Increased travel and increased exchange of goods and the manner in which they are transported, particularly by cargo containers, has resulted in the introduction and establishment of vector species not previously found in Europe. The most notable example of an undesirable introduction is that of the mosquito Aedes albopictus. This mosquito is of Asian origin, and has spread to the American and African continents in the last two decades: it is now established in North and South America, Africa, Oceania and Europe. Its first detection in Europe was in Albania, in 1979 (Adhami & Murati, 1987). The species was probably introduced into that country from China in the mid-1970s. The initial infestation was likely to have been at a rubber factory adjacent to the port of Durres (Durazzo), from where the eggs of the mosquito were inadvertently shipped in tyres to recapping (retreading) plants in other parts of the country. This was the first recorded infestation of Ae. albopictus outside Oriental and Australasian regions (Adhami & Reiter, 1998). Aedes albopictus was thereafter found in Genoa, Italy in 1990 (Sabatini et al., 1990) as well as in Padua. The Padua introduction may have resulted from tyre imports from the USA. Eighty-five per cent of the imported tyres came from a single source in Atlanta, Georgia; the remaining 15% of the tyres came from the Netherlands.