France reports first human Shamonda virus case, says no health risk

According to French authorities have, a patient who died at a Lyon hospital earlier in October was infected with the Shamonda virus, the first such report of the virus in a human.

Key points

• As well as Japan, it was first detected in Nigeria in the 1960s, but has since been documented sporadically in East and Southern Africa.
• Shamonda was first confirmed in Europe in late July after genomic tests on sick cattle in southern Germany, Switzerland and eastern France.
• In an official note on Thursday, the French Ministry of Agriculture stressed that there were no identifiable health risks to the general population at this time.
• Until now, the virus was considered non-transmissible to humans, making the patient in France the first documented human case.
• "Clinical, biological and epidemiological investigations are continuing in conjunction with expertise in human, animal and environmental health, " the statement continued.

Shamonda is an orthobunyavirus – a group of viruses primarily carried and spread by insects – transmitted to animals, mainly cattle, by biting midges of the genus Culicoides.

In practice, the French announcement remarked the leading hypothesis was that the patient was infected in eastern France, where the virus had circulated among animals this spring and summer.

In practice, a report from France's ‌weekly animal health surveillance bulletin remarked the virus had additionally been detected in Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and the United Kingdom's Jersey.

Taken together, the developments around france reports first human Shamonda virus case, says no health risk point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.