Paris, October 23, 2026 – The Europe Today: France has confirmed the first documented human infection with Shamonda virus, a pathogen spread by biting midges that had until now been identified only in animals. The patient, who was severely immunocompromised, later died, French health authorities announced on Thursday.
In a joint statement, the French health and agriculture ministries said the patient was most likely infected through the bite of a midge carrying the virus in eastern France, where Shamonda had been circulating among livestock during the spring and summer. The man, who had been receiving treatment for a serious illness, died in early October. Local newspaper Le Progrès reported that he was in his sixties and lived in the Lyon area.
The ministry described the infection as exceptional, given the patient’s weakened immune system, and stressed that, on the basis of current scientific knowledge, no risk to the general public has been identified at this stage. French authorities have notified the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), which said investigations into how the infection occurred are continuing.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus offered condolences to the patient’s family and confirmed that the man had been in an area where the virus was present in animals and where Culicoides midges were active. He said WHO is working with French authorities to determine how the infection took place, the possible routes of transmission, and any wider public health implications.
First identified in Nigeria in the mid-1960s, Shamonda virus belongs to the bunyavirus family and had previously been reported sporadically in cattle in parts of Africa and in Japan. It was confirmed in Europe for the first time in late July this year, following genomic testing on sick cattle in southern Germany, Switzerland and eastern France. The virus has since been detected in livestock across a number of European countries, including Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain, as well as the British Crown Dependency of Jersey.
In animals, primarily cattle but also sheep, goats, horses and alpacas, the infection can cause fever, diarrhoea, reduced milk production and reproductive problems, including miscarriages and foetal malformations. Because the virus had never before been found in a human, its effects on human health remain largely unknown. There is no evidence of human-to-human transmission, and no commercial vaccine is currently available.
Scientists have described the case as a significant finding. Virologists note that while there is presently no indication that Shamonda causes widespread illness in people, further research is needed to understand its capacity to infect humans.
