I cant understand why Mrs Lemons GP would be against confirming Pertussis if that what her children had. The alternative very similar viral infection is Respiratory Syncitial virus (do you know- I dont know if thats the way to spell it!.) I mean if the children havent been immunized thats where his statistics are knackered, not that they may have caught something that theres no cure for. I always remember the look on a local midwifes face when she realized that all her 4 kids had come down with measles at once. She didnt immunise them for similarly individual reasoning, and wondered why her caring GP seemed to throw up his hands in despair at her pleadings to help. Lets face it if youre not immunized the chances of catching the illness is greater, and the illness statistically is more lethal than the imms! Anyway I've always wanted to simply exclude those families who dont want to immunize, from the stats, after all its a free world, no matter that the illness if caught could cost the country lots more that the vacc. Perhaps the parents would pay for any extra treatment resulting from their decision to take an alternative view, just as we all have to pay for those rare side effects of vaccines on individuals via the NHS