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The first human case of a virus usually found in livestock was reported in France on Thursday in a patient who later died.
Authorities say there is no risk to the general population at this stage. It is suspected that the victim was bitten by a midge carrying the Shamonda virus in eastern France, where it had circulated among animals this spring and summer, the government said in a statement.
The man had been hospitalized in Lyon with an unrelated serious disease, a French health ministry official told reporters.
The victim was a man in his 60s living in the Lyon area, local newspaper Le Progres reported.
The UN’s World Health Organization said it was in contact with French authorities about the outbreak.
“Based on current information and knowledge of the transmission of closely related viruses, this is an isolated human case and it is unlikely to lead to wider spread at this time,” said the Geneva-based WHO, which co-ordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies.
A cow nurses its calf in a dry field in Saint‑Fiacre‑sur‑Maine, near Nantes, France, on July 17. (Stephane Mahe/Reuters)
“We are clearly dealing with a case that is unprecedented from a scientific and virological point of view. It is linked to this man’s severely weakened immune system,” Gregory Emery, head of France’s health directorate, told reporters.
“From a medical and public health point of view, there is no alert and no crisis.”
Virus commonly affects cattle
Shamonda is transmitted by biting midges and most commonly found in cattle, though it has also been found in horses, alpacas, sheep and goats, according to the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH).
It belongs to the same group as the Schmallenberg virus, which causes reproductive disorders in livestock.
The virus has several effects on animals, with affected cattle showing diarrhea, weakness, loss of appetite and, less often, fever, French animal health authorities said. A study of nine French dairy farms published in August 2026 found milk production fell by up to 75 per cent. The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said that neurological issues and reproductive issues, including abortions and fetal malformations, have also been observed among infected animals.
Currently, there has been no evidence of animal-to-animal transmission of the virus, although there have been reported cases of a mother passing the virus to a calf in its womb, according to WOAH.
There have also been no reports of cattle-to-human transmission, Emery said.
It is not classified as a disease under the EU Animal Health Law and not subject to official surveillance or control measures. WOAH is calling for those with infected animals to voluntarily report the infections to help understand the virus.
Identified in Nigeria in the mid-1960s, Shamonda was first confirmed in Europe in late July after genomic tests on sick cattle in southern Germany, Switzerland and eastern France.
WOAH says the long-term impacts of the European variants of Shamonda are uncertain at this stage.
France’s weekly animal health surveillance bulletin said it had also been detected in Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and the U.K.’s Jersey.