A national autism register listing the number of Scottish children suffering from the lifelong disorder should be set up, according to the government's expert group on the MMR vaccine.

The group, which holds its final meeting this week, will recommend establishing a national autism register as a matter of urgency but is expected to advise against making single vaccines available.

The group's draft report recommends no change in the immunisation policy despite growing fears that the MMR triple vaccine can cause autism in some children.

The group will also call for more research into autism but there is disagreement over which aspect of the disorder needs further investigation.

The department of health and the Scottish Executive have said no more money should be spent on studying the alleged link between autism and the MMR vaccine. Last month, Scotland's chief medical officer, Dr Mac Armstrong, said he would not back any further studies into links between the triple vaccine and autism.

Around the same time the government announced a £2.5 million grant to the Medical Research Council for autism research. English health minister, Jacqui Smith said she would not expect the money to be used to investigate the suggested connection with the jab.

A group of Scottish experts fears its research could be blocked due to a reluctance to fund work in this controversial area. A consortium of experts, including scientists at the Moredun Research Institute in Edinburgh and doctors at the city's Sick Children's Hospital, have submitted an application to the Medical Research Council (MRC) for funding for a study into whether the measles virus, possibly from the MMR vaccine, is causing autism and bowel disorders in some children.

They want to test the theory that the measles virus is lingering in autistic children, damaging the gut and allowing harmful substances to get into the bloodstream and cause brain damage. This is the theory put forward by Dr Andrew Wakefield, formerly of the Royal Free Hospital in London, who first suggested a link between autism, bowel disease and the MMR vaccine in 1998. It is also backed by Paul Shattock, director of the Autism Research Unit based at the University of Sunderland.

Gastroenterologists at Edinburgh Sick Children's Hospital will examine the intestines of children for traces of the measles virus while the team at the Moredun Research Institute will test children's urine for opioid peptides -- substances either derived from incompletely digested foods, produced by the body or from bacteria in the gut. These substances resemble opioid drugs and are believed to bind to the brain in the same way as morphine.

The experts will investigate whether the measles virus, possibly coming from the MMR vaccine, increases gut perme ability, allowing these opioid peptides to leak into the blood stream. The theory is that the opioid peptides then attack the brain .

John March, of the Moredun Research Institute, has secured funding for a small-scale study of just 60 children. The application to the MRC is for the same research on a larger scale involving around 1000 children, half of them autistic.

He said: 'We will be looking for gut damage. Secondly we will look for the presence of the measles virus. We will compare this to the normal population and see if any correlations exist. For example, is gut damage more prevalent in autistic children? Does it correlate with the presence of the measles virus? Finally we will look for opioid peptides.

'If, for example, we find that yes, autistic kids have gut damage, and opioid peptides, but not measles virus, then it suggests that MMR is not involved. We may find that a subset of autistic kids have gut damage and that they all show the measles virus and opioid peptides. This should give us a pretty clear idea of what's going on.'

But March is concerned that the Medical Research Council may refuse the application due to political pressure not to fund studies into the alleged link between autism and the MMR vaccine.

He added: 'I have been trying to get money to do this for years. There is a political feeling that autism is genetic and if you come along and say that it might be caused by MMR or diet then there is a lot of reluctance to accept that.

'A lot of people involved in funding are opposed to the idea that the MMR has got anything to do with this, that measles is in the gut of children with autism.'

Bill Welsh, chairman, Action Against Autism, welcomed the prospect of an autism register and said he hoped this would lead to better research being carried out into the disorder.

He said: 'We have campaigned for many years for a register of autistics, by year of birth, and it is welcome news that the Scottish parliament may be about to meet this demand. It will answer finally the question, 'is the incidence of autism rising?'.

'Today the medical profession can inform us almost instantly if a child somewhere in Scotland contracts measles which, for most children, is a mild disease. If a child becomes autistic, a lifelong incurable condition, no record is kept! This is indefensible and should have been addressed long ago.

'Hopefully this register will lead to an urgent review of the traditional attitudes toward this condition. A rise in prevalence would clearly reveal that environmental factors are involved and research funding could be targeted accordingly.'