Disease amongst household pets could skyrocket (Image: GETTY)
The Federation of European Companion Animal Veterinary Associations (FECAVA) have said household pets in the UK are losing their “herd immunity” after anti-vax conspiracies surfaced online, scaring pet owners. The FECAVA believes the anti-vax movement, which has been fuelled by social media, is pushing pet vaccination rates below the threshold at which outbreaks of deadly conditions such as canine typhoid fever and Parvovirus can be contained naturally. Figures from the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals show 25 percent of dogs, roughly 2.2 million, no longer receive a primary course of vaccinations.
This is a rise of 20 percent since 2011.
Around 35 percent of cats are also now unvaccinated.
This compares to around 70 percent in 2011.
Vaccine scepticism is a growing threat to human medicine.
One example which added fuel to the fire was the fraudulent research published by Andrew Wakefield in Lancet in 1998.
The anti-vax movement is pushing pet vaccination rates below the threshold
