Dr. Nicholas Thompson of the Royal Free Hospital in London has completed
a preliminary study in which subjects who were vaccinated against
measles proved to be more than three times as likely to develop chronic
inflammatory bowel disease compared to unvaccinated controls.  His
comment, "This stdy provides further evidence that the measles virus
plays a role in the etiology of infoammatory bowel disease," was
immediately criticized by other medical experts, who are worried that
parents may be frightened away from the vaccine by the prospect of
severe abdominal pain, diarrhea, and blood loss.  (The measles vaccine
containes a live, though weakened, form of the measles virus.)