France Reports First Human Shamonda Virus Case, Says No Health Risk

French health authorities have reported the world’s first documented human infection with the Shamonda virus, a pathogen previously known to affect livestock, while assuring the public that no health risk to the general population has been identified.

The patient, who was severely immunocompromised and receiving treatment in Lyon for a serious underlying illness, died in early October, according to a joint statement from France’s health and agriculture ministries released on Thursday, October 22, 2026.

Authorities said the patient developed neurological complications before death, which were considered likely to be associated with the infection. However, investigations are continuing to establish the circumstances surrounding the case.

The leading hypothesis is that the patient was infected in eastern France through the bite of a Culicoides midge, a small blood-feeding insect known to transmit the virus among animals. The virus had been circulating in livestock in the region during spring and summer.

“Despite several decades of circulation of the Shamonda virus in Africa and Asia, no human cases had been documented until now,” the ministries said, describing the case as exceptional because of the patient’s severely weakened immune system.

Officials stressed that, based on currently available scientific knowledge, no health risk to the wider population has been identified.

Shamonda virus belongs to the Orthobunyavirus group and primarily affects cattle. It has also been detected in other animals, including sheep, goats and horses. Transmission occurs mainly through the bites of infected midges.

The virus was first identified in Nigeria in the mid-1960s and has since been reported sporadically in parts of Africa and Japan. In 2026, Shamonda-type viruses were detected in livestock in several European countries, including France, Germany and Switzerland.

Before this case, the virus was considered not to infect humans. The discovery has therefore prompted further investigations into its potential to affect people and the circumstances that may have enabled the infection.

French authorities said clinical, laboratory and epidemiological investigations were ongoing under a One Health approach involving human, animal and environmental health specialists.

The World Health Organization and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control have been notified of the case.

Authorities say the findings will help improve scientific understanding of the virus while maintaining that there is currently no identified threat to the general population.