diff --git a/scrapy/trunk/scrapy/utils/db.py b/scrapy/trunk/scrapy/utils/db.py
index 274b0f4e7..ea91e6ddc 100644
--- a/scrapy/trunk/scrapy/utils/db.py
+++ b/scrapy/trunk/scrapy/utils/db.py
@@ -18,5 +18,6 @@ def mysql_connect(db_uri, **kwargs):
             del(d['passwd'])
 
         d['charset'] = "utf8"
+        d['reconnect'] = 1
         d.update(kwargs)
         return MySQLdb.connect(**d)