NZ wipes out Aussie mozzie

New Zealand has been declared officially free of the southern saltmarsh mosquito, the first country in the world to wipe out the Aussie mozzie.

MAF biosecurity officer David Yard says it has taken an 11-year eradication programme to get rid of the insect, which is capable of carrying the debilitating Ross River Virus. He says other countries will be interested to see how New Zealand achieved it.

"We will be going back to the Australian Mosquito Conference. We will be preparing scientific papers because we believe we have a lot to teach the world in the persistence and techniques that we have used," said Mr Yard/

New Zealand ports and airports will continue mosquito surveillance.

- Newstalk ZB