France has reported its first human case of the Shamonda virus, usually found in livestock, after a hospital patient died, although health authorities say there is no risk to the general population.
The case was reported on Thursday, with authorities suspecting that the victim contracted the virus through the bite of an infected midge in eastern France, where it circulated among animals during the spring and summer.
A French Health Ministry official said the man had been hospitalised in Lyon for an unrelated serious illness. Local newspaper Le Progrès reported that the victim was in his 60s and lived in the Lyon area.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it was in contact with French authorities over the case, adding that the likelihood of wider transmission was low.
“Based on current information and knowledge of the transmission of closely related viruses, this is an isolated human case, and it is unlikely to lead to wider spread at this time,” the WHO said.
Gregory Emery, head of France’s health directorate, described the case as unprecedented from a scientific and virological perspective, linking it to the patient’s severely weakened immune system.
“From a medical and public health point of view, there is no alert and no crisis,” Emery said.
Virus Spreading Among Animals in Europe
The Shamonda virus is transmitted by biting midges and is most commonly found in cattle, although it has also been detected in horses, alpacas, sheep and goats, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).
Emery said there had been no reported cases of transmission from cattle to humans or from one person to another.
Dr Ben Brennan of the University of Glasgow’s Centre for Virus Research said previous cases involving comparable viruses suggested that Shamonda posed a limited risk to human health.
He cited the Schmallenberg virus, which affected livestock in Europe more than a decade ago without causing reported human cases, and the Cristoli virus, which was linked to the death of a vulnerable patient in France but was not followed by further cases.
Shamonda is not classified as a disease under the European Union’s Animal Health Law and is therefore not subject to official surveillance or control measures under the legislation.
First identified in Nigeria in the mid-1960s, the virus was confirmed in Europe in late July following genomic tests on sick cattle in southern Germany, Switzerland and eastern France.
France’s weekly animal health surveillance bulletin also reported its detection in Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Jersey.
French animal health authorities said infected cattle could develop diarrhoea, weakness, loss of appetite and, less frequently, fever.
A study involving nine French dairy farms found that milk production declined by as much as 75 per cent.
