diff --git a/psycopg/connection.h b/psycopg/connection.h
index 72437492..529a211e 100644
--- a/psycopg/connection.h
+++ b/psycopg/connection.h
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ typedef struct {
     PGconn *pgconn;           /* the postgresql connection */
     PGcancel *cancel;         /* the cancellation structure */
 
-    PyObject *async_cursor;   /* a cursor executing an asynchronous query */
+    PyObject *async_cursor;   /* weakref to a cursor executing an asynchronous query */
     int async_status;         /* asynchronous execution status */
 
     /* notice processing */
diff --git a/psycopg/connection_int.c b/psycopg/connection_int.c
index 8451b453..9ccc11d5 100644
--- a/psycopg/connection_int.c
+++ b/psycopg/connection_int.c
@@ -752,7 +752,17 @@ conn_poll(connectionObject *self)
         if (res == PSYCO_POLL_OK && self->async_cursor) {
             /* An async query has just finished: parse the tuple in the
              * target cursor. */
-            cursorObject *curs = (cursorObject *)self->async_cursor;
+            cursorObject *curs;
+            PyObject *py_curs = PyWeakref_GetObject(self->async_cursor);
+            if (Py_None == py_curs) {
+                pq_clear_async(self);
+                PyErr_SetString(InterfaceError,
+                    "the asynchronous cursor has disappeared");
+                res = PSYCO_POLL_ERROR;
+                break;
+            }
+
+            curs = (cursorObject *)py_curs;
             IFCLEARPGRES(curs->pgres);
             curs->pgres = pq_get_last_result(self);
 
@@ -764,8 +774,7 @@ conn_poll(connectionObject *self)
             }
 
             /* We have finished with our async_cursor */
-            Py_XDECREF(self->async_cursor);
-            self->async_cursor = NULL;
+            Py_CLEAR(self->async_cursor);
         }
         break;
 
diff --git a/psycopg/cursor_type.c b/psycopg/cursor_type.c
index be22e34f..5a6722c7 100644
--- a/psycopg/cursor_type.c
+++ b/psycopg/cursor_type.c
@@ -792,7 +792,8 @@ psyco_curs_fetchone(cursorObject *self, PyObject *args)
     /* if the query was async aggresively free pgres, to allow
        successive requests to reallocate it */
     if (self->row >= self->rowcount
-        && self->conn->async_cursor == (PyObject*)self)
+        && self->conn->async_cursor
+        && PyWeakref_GetObject(self->conn->async_cursor) == (PyObject*)self)
         IFCLEARPGRES(self->pgres);
 
     return res;
@@ -868,7 +869,8 @@ psyco_curs_fetchmany(cursorObject *self, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwords)
     /* if the query was async aggresively free pgres, to allow
        successive requests to reallocate it */
     if (self->row >= self->rowcount
-        && self->conn->async_cursor == (PyObject*)self)
+        && self->conn->async_cursor
+        && PyWeakref_GetObject(self->conn->async_cursor) == (PyObject*)self)
         IFCLEARPGRES(self->pgres);
 
     return list;
@@ -932,7 +934,8 @@ psyco_curs_fetchall(cursorObject *self, PyObject *args)
     /* if the query was async aggresively free pgres, to allow
        successive requests to reallocate it */
     if (self->row >= self->rowcount
-        && self->conn->async_cursor == (PyObject*)self)
+        && self->conn->async_cursor
+        && PyWeakref_GetObject(self->conn->async_cursor) == (PyObject*)self)
         IFCLEARPGRES(self->pgres);
 
     return list;
diff --git a/psycopg/pqpath.c b/psycopg/pqpath.c
index f334b636..27e958e5 100644
--- a/psycopg/pqpath.c
+++ b/psycopg/pqpath.c
@@ -279,8 +279,7 @@ pq_clear_async(connectionObject *conn)
         Dprintf("pq_clear_async: clearing PGresult at %p", pgres);
         CLEARPGRES(pgres);
     }
-    Py_XDECREF(conn->async_cursor);
-    conn->async_cursor = NULL;
+    Py_CLEAR(conn->async_cursor);
 }
 
 
@@ -824,8 +823,11 @@ pq_execute(cursorObject *curs, const char *query, int async)
     }
     else {
         curs->conn->async_status = async_status;
-        Py_INCREF(curs);
-        curs->conn->async_cursor = (PyObject*)curs;
+        curs->conn->async_cursor = PyWeakref_NewRef((PyObject *)curs, NULL);
+        if (!curs->conn->async_cursor) {
+            /* weakref creation failed */
+            return -1;
+        }
     }
 
     return 1-async;
diff --git a/tests/test_async.py b/tests/test_async.py
index 96d7a2cc..d4854fc5 100755
--- a/tests/test_async.py
+++ b/tests/test_async.py
@@ -415,6 +415,18 @@ class AsyncTests(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual("CREATE TABLE", cur.statusmessage)
         self.assert_(self.conn.notices)
 
+    def test_async_cursor_gone(self):
+        cur = self.conn.cursor()
+        cur.execute("select 42;");
+        del cur
+        self.assertRaises(psycopg2.InterfaceError, self.wait, self.conn)
+
+        # The connection is still usable
+        cur = self.conn.cursor()
+        cur.execute("select 42;");
+        self.wait(self.conn)
+        self.assertEqual(cur.fetchone(), (42,))
+
 
 def test_suite():
     return unittest.TestLoader().loadTestsFromName(__name__)