My daughter is six years old and has chronic asthma. At present she is taking twice the recommended maximum dose of inhaled steroids for children and is recovering from whooping cough, despite being fully vaccinated as a baby.

We believe that her health problems have been exacerbated or even caused by childhood vaccinations. Her reaction to the first diptheria-whooping cough-tetanus shot was to scream non-stop for 12 hours, a reaction we were told was "normal". She was hospitalized with a high fever after the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, after which she developed bowel problems, and then, after the DPT booster, "full blown" asthma.We were talked into allowing her to be given two flu vaccinations. After that she contracted one virus after another and numerous ear infections so that she was constantly on antibiotics.

We feel that the inhaled steroids are also having side effects. She has developed thinning skin, she has gained no weight at all in 18 months, and her feet have stopped growing.

Elimination diets and homeopathy have proved largely unsuccessful. In view of her past experiences, we are extremely reluctant to allow the suggested measles vaccine. S M, Romney Marsh, Kent.....

Your daughter's case sounds like an iatrogenic nightmare. In a recent recent study, children given the whooping cough vaccine were six times as likely to develop asthma. The high-pitched screaming she developed after the DPT is a US government recognized side effect, not a "normal reaction", and the thinning skin and growth problems are classic side effects of inhaled steroids. Ear infections and viral infections not helped by antibiotics. Given that she is showing signs of extreme intolerance to her drugs, we urge you to immediately contact an experienced nutritional doctor highly experienced in successful asthma treatment who can attempt to repair all the damage caused by "preventive" medicine.