Port scoured for mosquito danger

Public health staff are carrying out urgent checks around Auckland's port to establish whether mosquito larvae of a species that can spread serious diseases have slipped into the country.

Three exotic mosquito species were found in the mixing bowl of a concrete truck imported from Japan last week, and one has been identified as the potentially dangerous japanese tiger mosquito.

The other two were more benign species.

The Health Ministry's deputy chief technical officer for biosecurity, John Gardner, said the japanese tiger mosquito posed a serious health threat.

The species - distinctive with long, slim legs and tigerlike stripes on the belly - could spread japanese encephalitis virus, causing a disease characterised by inflammation of the brain, and west nile virus. Both diseases can kill people.

There has not yet been an outbreak of New Zealand-acquired mosquito-borne disease in this country, but Mr Gardner said it was important to stop the establishment of species which could act as carriers.

In many cases, a disease outbreak could be triggered by a resident population of exotic mosquitoes feeding on an infected tourist.

Mr Gardner said the truck had been fumigated, the vessel which carried the mixer had been checked, and so had the ports of Wellington and Lyttelton, which it visited.

- NZPA