France reports first human Shamonda virus case

PARIS, Oct 22 — French health authorities said ​they had detected the Shamonda virus usually affecting livestock ‌in a human for the first time in ⁠a patient ​who later died, ⁠while adding that they ‌saw no risk ‌to the general population at ⁠this stage.

Shamonda ⁠virus is an insect-borne Orthobunyavirus primarily affecting livestock, particularly cattle, and transmitted by biting midges.

First identified in Nigeria in the mid-1960s, ‌it has since ​been detected sporadically in animals in Africa and Japan. It has been spreading among several European countries this year.

The virus had until now been considered non-transmissible ​to humans, the French ‌government said.

The ‌leading ⁠hypothesis is that the patient may have been infected in eastern France, where the virus had ‌been circulating among ​animals during spring ‌and summer 2026.

(Reporting ⁠by ​Sybille de la Hamaide and Makini ​Brice)

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