EMA: Concept paper for a guideline on data requirements regarding veterinary medicinal products for the prevention of transmission of canine and feline vector-borne diseases

Vectors are living organisms - such as diptera (mosquitoes, sand flies, muscid flies), ticks, fleas and lice - that transmit a disease from an infected animal to a human or another animal. Vector-borne diseases (VBDs) are caused by a wide range of infectious agents including viruses, bacteria and parasites (protozoa and helminths). VBDs may be highly pathogenic in dogs and cats, and diseased animals may have persistent infections and act as reservoirs for several zoonoses (leishmaniosis, Lyme disease, bartonellosis etc.). The threat of VBDs may increase based on a combination of factors like changing social and economic conditions, globalised travel and trade, increased urbanisation, climatic changes, environmental and ecosystem changes.