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Vienna (pte043/08.05.2003/15:43) - Holidaymakers in central Europe are being warned that the mosquito problem this year is likely to be worse than ever before.
Due to widespread flooding across much of the continent, mosquito levels were the worst in memory last year.
The problem of larger animals such as cows being killed by mosquitoes was first reported last year when a farmer in Germany lost five of his after they were extensively bitten by the blood sucking insects.
Farmer Gerhard Scheffer had called in vets, believing that the animals had been struck down by a deadly disease in the fields in Baunatal, central Germany. Instead, he was told that his cows were the first official victims of the mosquito plague and had bled to death from mosquito bites.
Four cows have died this year on a farm in South Tyrol, Italy.
The fight against mosquitoes has become more difficult since scientists discovered a tiny mutation to their genes that has made them immune to insecticides.
Authorities in Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic admitted last year that there was little that could be done about the insects.
A spokesman at the Austrian Health Ministry confirmed that the mosquito problem had been getting worse every year.
Viennese expert on zoology and water breeding insects, Bernhard Seidel, said the mosquitoes were of a new type that could live in the area because of increasingly warmer temperatures in central Europe.
Biologist Norbert Becker, director of the Communal Action Group to Fight the Mosquito Plague (Kabs) in Germany said the impact of plague will have long repercussions, as eggs left by the mosquitoes last year can stay dormant for up to five years waiting for the next heavy rain.
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