France Reports First Human Case of Shamonda Virus as Patient Dies

French health authorities have reported the first known human infection with the Shamonda virus, a pathogen that primarily affects livestock, after a severely immunocompromised patient died earlier this month.

 

However, the French health and agriculture ministries said there was “no health risk to the general public identified at this time.”

 

In a joint statement on Thursday, the ministries described the infection as “an exceptional case involving a severely immunocompromised patient” who had been hospitalised for a serious medical condition.

 

“Despite circulating in Africa and Asia for several decades, the Shamonda virus has never previously been detected in humans,” the statement said.

 

The ministries said preliminary findings suggested that the patient contracted the virus through the bite of a midge in eastern France, where the pathogen had been circulating among animals during the spring and summer.

 

They added that the neurological complications observed in the patient before his death were “very likely linked to infection with the Shamonda virus.”

 

However, clinical, biological and epidemiological investigations are still ongoing to establish the circumstances surrounding the infection.

 

The Shamonda virus belongs to the Orthobunyavirus group and is typically transmitted to animals through the bites of small insects.

 

First detected in Nigeria in the mid-1960s, the virus has since been reported in cattle across several parts of Africa and in Japan.

 

It was detected in Europe for the first time at the end of July, including on cattle farms in France. According to an epidemiological bulletin from France’s national animal health research institute, the virus has now been identified in 14 Western European countries.

 

Cattle are considered the virus’s main animal hosts, although sporadic infections in smaller livestock and horses were also reported in France this summer.

 

In cattle, the main symptoms include acute diarrhoea, fever, lethargy and reduced milk production.

 

French authorities said the investigation was continuing, adding that both the World Health Organisation and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control had been notified of the case.