Used truck and tractor tyres being imported for re-treading from the Far East could carry dangerous mosquitoes, although the risk of mosquito-borne disease appears low at the moment, according to the National Disease Surveillance Centre (NDSC).
One Irish entomologist believes that all such large tyre imports should face an EU-wide ban because the risk is real and the imports in any case bring no economic benefit.
"The numbers of resident mosquitoes can vary, depending on climatic conditions. They tend to favour pools of water where they breed," said Dublin-based entomologist Dr Patrick Ashe.
"The most dangerous means of mosquitoes getting into the country is in tyres, not new tyres but tyres which are re-treaded. It is impossible to remove the water from the tyres without cutting them," he claimed.
"There should be a ban on all used tyres being imported, they have no economic benefit and they can bring in indigenous mosquitoes," he added.
"The EU should place a blanket ban on all used tyres entering the country. The rubber should be melted and new tyres made rather than bringing in old tyres. At the end of the Crimean War, soldiers carried mosquitoes into Cobh that caused an outbreak of malaria in Cork, so there is a possibility that these diseases can survive."
The National Disease Surveillance Centre is establishing a group to study the effects of mosquito-borne diseases.
"The risk at the moment appears low, but we have our antennae up to the dangers of importing mosquitoes. It's an area we are paying close attention to," according to Mr Paul McKeown, a specialist in public health medicine at the NDSC.
"Any mosquito that can suck blood can carry a virus," said Mr McKeown. The Asian tiger mosquito can carry up to 23 viruses, including the West Nile Virus (WNV).
"It's almost certain that the WNV was carried by mosquitoes, by humans or birds. Birds are good at making viruses. If they have a high level of the virus in their blood and are bitten by mosquitoes, then it can be passed on to humans," Mr McKeown added.
The Asian Tiger Mosquito or Aedes albopictus, named after its black and white strips, was discovered in the US in 1985 breeding in discarded used tyres in Houston, Texas.
Mosquitoes are most likely to breed in large truck and tractor tyres. These are often stored outside where they gather water in which mosquitoes breed before the tyres are exported.
A search is under way in Britain's ports and tyre depots for the mosquito.
The UK's Health Protection Agency is also investigating the possibility of the threat to health in Britain of new diseases as a result of climate change.
"If a mosquito can get into a tyre in England, it can certainly happen here without realisation. Truck tyres are stored out in the open so the rain can get into them. The tyres that are undergo a drying-out process, but it can't remove all the water," said Mr Jack Farrell of the Irish Tyre Industry Association.