Health authorities in France have reported the death of a “severely immunocompromised” patient, who was infected with Shamonda virus (SHAV) — the first ever human case of the virus.
According to AFP, the death of the patient was announced on
Thursday in a statement released by the French health and agriculture
ministries.
The ministries said the human infection of the virus is “an
exceptional case involving a severely immunocompromised patient”.
The French authorities said the patient, who died in early
October, was believed to have contracted the ailment through the bite of a
midge in eastern France, where the virus was circulating in animals during the
spring and summer.
The ministries said “clinical, biological and
epidemiological investigations are still ongoing”.
The authorities added that “no health risk to the general
public identified at this time”.
“Despite circulating in Africa and Asia for several decades,
the Shamonda virus has never previously been detected in humans,” the statement
reads.
“The neurological complications observed in the
immunocompromised patient prior to his death are very likely linked to
infection with the Shamonda virus.”
ABOUT SHAMONDA VIRUS
According to the World Organisation for Animal Health
(WOAH), Shamonda is a vector-borne virus, which belongs to the Orthobunyavirus
group.
The virus is transmitted to animals by small biting insects.
WOAH said the virus was first isolated from cattle in
Nigeria in 1965. It was later identified in other regions of Africa and Asia in
the early 2000s.
In Europe, clinical signs of the virus in animals were
reported from June 2026 and identified in late July, according to the European
Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
ECDC said the virus has been detected in farm animals in
Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg,
the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland, as well as Jersey.
ECDC said it is engaging French authorities and European
partners to “investigate the potential public health implications of this first
human infection”.
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