Reports from Kazakhstan say that residents of the former capital, Almaty, are suffering from a plague of wasps.

A senior health official, Elzhan Birtanov, said that there had been a sharp rise in the number of people seeking medical advice after being stung; and that several people a day were being admitted to hospital with life threatening allergic reactions.

He said the urban wasps -- which feed at markets and rubbish dumps -- posed a particular danger to public health.