France reports first human detection of Shamonda virus
French health authorities have reported the first documented human infection with the Shamonda virus in a severely immunocompromised patient who died in early October, according to a press release published by France’s Ministry of Agriculture, Agri-Food and Food Sovereignty, Qazinform News Agency reports.
The patient had been treated at the Hospices civils de Lyon for a serious illness. Clinical, laboratory and epidemiological investigations are in progress, the ministry said.
“Given the available knowledge about this virus, no health risk to the general population has been identified to date,” the ministry said.
The leading hypothesis is that the patient was infected through the bite of a Culicoïdes biting midge in eastern France, where the virus had circulated among animals during the spring and summer of 2026.
Clinical, biological and epidemiological investigations are continuing in coordination with experts in human, animal and environmental health.
French health authorities have notified the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), according to the press release.
What is the Shamonda virus?
The Shamonda virus is an Orthobunyavirus transmitted to animals by biting midges of the genus Culicoïdes, according to the France’s Ministry of Agriculture.
The virus was first detected in Nigeria in the mid-1960s and has since been reported sporadically in cattle in West, East and Southern Africa, as well as Japan.
In the summer of 2026, the virus was identified for the first time in Europe, including France, on cattle farms. Cattle are considered the main hosts among animal species that can be infected. Sporadic infections in small ruminants and equines were also identified in France during the summer, the ministry said.
The virus had previously been considered non-transmissible to humans. The infection reported in France is the first documented and reported detection of Shamonda virus in a human.
Despite decades of circulation in Africa and Asia, no human cases had been documented before this patient, according to the ministry.
The authorities described the case as exceptional because the patient was severely immunocompromised. Investigations are continuing, and the ministry reiterated that no health risk to the general population has been identified based on the knowledge currently available.
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