Encephalitis in Midwest VIII. Neutralizing Antibodies in Sera of Small Wild Mammals. Colorado 1950

Abstract

A survey of 191 sera of 19 species of small mammals for neutralizing antibodies showed that 2.6% were positive against western equine encephalitis virus and less than 1% against St. Louis virus. In view of the finding some months earlier that wild and domestic birds gave 30% positives, it was concluded that further study of the small mammals was less likely to be productive of major results than the study of birds. A table listing number of specimens from various species tested is given and methods of collecting and testing sera are discussed.