Betweeen 1976 and 1983, we have studied sera fom 1083 small wild mammals trapped in Tunisia, Morocco, Spain, Italia and Corsica in order to search for antibody against a number of arboviruses, belonging to several genera and serogroups.
The blood from trapped mammals was collected on blotting paper strips and was sent to the virus laboratory at ambiant temperature. After that, the dessicated blood was eluted and treated for hamaglutination inhibition and complement fixation tests.
Results indicated that in the area at a whole, the activity of West Nile virus is somewhat declining, whereas three other arbovirus were emerging : Tahyna, Sicilian Sandfly fever and Arumowot.
Antibody to four tick-borne arboviruses : Bhanja, Uukuniemi. Quaranfil.and Tick borne encephalitis were also detected but with a more restricted distribution.
From a serological point of view, the species the most frequently found positive belong to the Muridae, Gerbillidae and Talpidae families which were also frequently trapped. Ctenodactylus gundi and Pipistrellus kuhli, though trapped in a few specimens, were also frequently found positive.In epidemiological study of arbovirus infections, sero survey in small wild mammals with blood collectionusing blotting paper strips, appeard as an interesting field method, easy to perform, no expensive and reliable. In countries where arbovirus were not previously studied , this method is able to quickly supply basic informations, and in others where virological studyies were more completely achieved , it may improve the inventory of the mammalian species involved in arbovirus circulation.