First Human Shamonda Virus Case Found in France; Patient Dies
(MENAFN) France has logged the first documented human infection with Shamonda virus, health officials said Thursday, after a patient with a serious illness died in early October.
The French Health Ministry said the patient had “severe immunodeficiency” and was being treated at the Hospices Civils de Lyon in Lyon, the country’s third-largest city. Authorities said the patient died in early October and that clinical, biological and epidemiological investigations are ongoing.
The case breaks with what scientists had assumed about the pathogen.
“The Shamonda virus had previously been considered non-transmissible to humans. The infection in this patient therefore constitutes the first documented and reported detection of the virus in a human,” the ministry said in a statement.
No human cases had been recorded before, even though the virus has circulated in Africa and Asia for several decades, the ministry said.
Officials described the death as an outlier.
“This is therefore an exceptional case involving a severely immunocompromised patient,” the statement added.
The ministry reiterated that no health risk to the general population has been identified to date.
The virus was first detected in Europe this summer, including in France, on cattle farms. Cattle are considered the main hosts among the animal species that can be infected.
Investigators believe an insect bite is the most likely source.
“At this stage of the investigation, the hypothesis is that the patient was infected through vector transmission, via the bite of a Culicoides midge in eastern France, a region where the virus was circulating among animals in spring and summer 2026,” it added.
The French Health Ministry said the patient had “severe immunodeficiency” and was being treated at the Hospices Civils de Lyon in Lyon, the country’s third-largest city. Authorities said the patient died in early October and that clinical, biological and epidemiological investigations are ongoing.
The case breaks with what scientists had assumed about the pathogen.
“The Shamonda virus had previously been considered non-transmissible to humans. The infection in this patient therefore constitutes the first documented and reported detection of the virus in a human,” the ministry said in a statement.
No human cases had been recorded before, even though the virus has circulated in Africa and Asia for several decades, the ministry said.
Officials described the death as an outlier.
“This is therefore an exceptional case involving a severely immunocompromised patient,” the statement added.
The ministry reiterated that no health risk to the general population has been identified to date.
The virus was first detected in Europe this summer, including in France, on cattle farms. Cattle are considered the main hosts among the animal species that can be infected.
Investigators believe an insect bite is the most likely source.
“At this stage of the investigation, the hypothesis is that the patient was infected through vector transmission, via the bite of a Culicoides midge in eastern France, a region where the virus was circulating among animals in spring and summer 2026,” it added.
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