France Records Death of Shamonda Virus Patient in World's First Human Case

Health authorities in France have reported the death of a “severely immunocompromised” patient, who was infected with Shamonda virus (SHAV) — the first ever human case of the virus.

According to AFP, the death of the patient was announced on Thursday in a statement released by the French health and agriculture ministries.

The ministries said the human infection of the virus is “an exceptional case involving a severely immunocompromised patient”.

The French authorities said the patient, who died in early October, was believed to have contracted the ailment through the bite of a midge in eastern France, where the virus was circulating in animals during the spring and summer.

The ministries said “clinical, biological and epidemiological investigations are still ongoing”.

The authorities added that “no health risk to the general public identified at this time”.

“Despite circulating in Africa and Asia for several decades, the Shamonda virus has never previously been detected in humans,” the statement reads.

“The neurological complications observed in the immunocompromised patient prior to his death are very likely linked to infection with the Shamonda virus.”

ABOUT SHAMONDA VIRUS

According to the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), Shamonda is a vector-borne virus, which belongs to the Orthobunyavirus group.

The virus is transmitted to animals by small biting insects.

WOAH said the virus was first isolated from cattle in Nigeria in 1965. It was later identified in other regions of Africa and Asia in the early 2000s.

In Europe, clinical signs of the virus in animals were reported from June 2026 and identified in late July, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

ECDC said the virus has been detected in farm animals in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland, as well as Jersey.

ECDC said it is engaging French authorities and European partners to “investigate the potential public health implications of this first human infection”.