Prevention

It is advised to protect (in endemic areas):

• Individual cats from the risk of developing infection and clinical disease.
  
  
• Feline population to improve the control of L. infantum infection in the vector.
  
  
• General prevention of sand fly bites is based on the same procedures as for dogs.
  
  
• Topical insecticides
  Insecticides currently available for cats have no demonstrated effect in preventing the bites of sandflies.
  
  
• Most pyrethroids are toxic for cats. Flumethrin collars are at present the onlypyrethroid formulation licensed for cats and was demonstrated to reduce the incidence of L. infantum in cats in a field study.
  
  
• Test blood donors by antibody detection and blood PCR.
  
  

Female Phlebotomus perniciosus unfed