PHP 4.4.0->4.4.1 apache module include() problem

[Max Belushkin]

    Dear all,

  I've just updated from PHP 4.4.0 to PHP 4.4.1 (on FreeBSD 5.1-RELEASE, 
Apache 2.0.55). And now for a lot of scripts (the only common thing between 
them is that they connect to mysql) I have the following strange behaviour:
after apache startup (prefork mode), everything works fine for 3-4 requests. 
After that, the following error starts appearing at random, more and more 
often as time goes by:
Cannot redeclare mmquery() (previously declared in /home/test/func_base.php:9) 
in /home/test/func_base.php on line 9

  At this point, mysql sockets start stacking as well, they do not get closed 
(netstat -ta shows more and more with each above error message).

  Now, func_base.php is included with "include_once". I tried even changing it 
to "if (!$inc_done) include_once("func_base.php");" and setting "$inc_done=1" 
in func_base.php - the exact same behaviour persists.

  This was not the case with PHP 4.4.0 just 2 hours ago.

  I've searched google, have seen similar questions but related to older PHP 
versions, but no reasonable solutions.

  I would be most grateful for any pointers...