‘Livestock virus’ infects human for first time; patient dies in France

Paris: French health authorities have reported the first known human infection with the Shamonda virus, which typically affects livestock, after the virus was detected in a severely immunocompromised patient who died earlier this month.

In a joint statement on Thursday, the French health and agriculture ministries said no risk to the general public had been identified so far. They described the infection as an exceptional case involving a patient who was hospitalised for a serious medical condition.

Despite circulating in Africa and Asia for several decades, the Shamonda virus had never previously been detected in humans, the ministries said.

The virus belongs to the Orthobunyavirus group and is typically transmitted to animals through the bites of small insects. Investigators believe the patient contracted the infection through a midge bite in eastern France, where the virus had been circulating among animals during the spring and summer.

Preliminary findings suggest that the neurological complications the patient experienced before death were likely linked to the infection. However, clinical, biological and epidemiological investigations are continuing, the authorities said.

Shamonda virus detected in 14 European countries

First identified in Nigeria in the mid-1960s, the Shamonda virus has since been reported in cattle across several parts of Africa and in Japan.

The virus was detected in Europe for the first time in late July, including on cattle farms in France. It has since been identified in 14 western European countries, according to an epidemiological bulletin from France's national animal health research institute.

Cattle are considered the virus's primary animal hosts, although sporadic infections in smaller livestock and horses were also reported in France this summer.

In cattle, the infection can cause acute diarrhoea, fever, lethargy and a decline in milk production.

The investigation into the first reported human infection is ongoing. The World Health Organization and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control have also been notified.

AP