Fed up of midgies? Get set for invasion of foreign mozzies!

IT used to be that the worst we could expect from a Scottish summer was midge bites.

But now experts fear a steady rise in numbers of mosquitoes caused by global warming could leave us exposed to the potentially deadly threat of diseases such as malaria and dengue fever.

One of the most common types of the biting insect has been identified for the first time in locations across Scotland, according to researchers at the University of Glasgow.

In all, they found 16 types mosquito, including the Culex pipiens, which is prevalent in North and South America, parts of Europe and some areas of Asia and Northern Africa.

Lead researcher Professor Heather Ferguson said the team was surprised to find mosquitoes in all corners of the country and hopes a new ‘citizen science’ campaign will help chart their numbers more accurately.

Unlike the smaller midge, mosquitoes use a proboscis to pierce the human skin and suck blood, making them feared around the world as potentially deadly carriers of such blood-borne diseases as malaria, dengue and Zika.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates around 219million people contract malaria from mosquitoes each year globally, resulting in 400,000 deaths.

Experts said the type of mosquito which carries malaria is unlikely to be found in the UK soon, but an early warning system would be important to combat future problems.

Professor Ferguson said: ‘With warming temperatures we’re going to see larger numbers of mosquitoes, potentially different species including some that can transmit diseases. They may be active for longer periods which means they maybe pose a risk.’

Little has been known about how widespread mosquitoes are in Scotland.

To tackle this, researchers from the university, the UK Health Security Agency and the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology established a surveillance project, Mosquito Scotland.

They hung traps at 24 locations across Scotland and lured the insects by emitting carbon dioxide, which mimics human breath. They found 16 varieties out of about 4,000 in the world, with the highest concentrations at sites by Loch of Kinnordy, Angus, and Broubster Leans, Caithness.

The team hopes to encourage members of the public to record sightings of mosquitoes by photographing them or sending dead samples for analysis.

Dr Nick Phin, medical director at Public Health Scotland, said that in recent years the West Nile virus, which is mainly transmitted through the bites of infected mosquitoes, had been spreading across Europe.

‘Cases have been identified in France,’ he said. ‘It doesn’t take a leap of the imagination to see that very soon they could be detected in England and Scotland.

‘It’s the warmer winters rather than the summers which allow the mosquitoes to survive. That’s because colder conditions kill off many of the insects.’

Meanwhile, leading midge expert Dr Alison Blackwell said the first biting beasties of the season have emerged two weeks early because of the weather and the first main hatch is days away.

She added: ‘The female will lay around 100 eggs in her first batch, but she will then lay second or even third batches of 30-40 eggs every few days later – and they will need a blood meal.’

‘Warmer winters let them survive’