The French authorities describe the case in question exceptional, in a patient with a severely weakened immune system. They also stressed that, based on what is currently known about the virus, there is no identified health risk to the general public.
Reportedly, the virus is spread to animals by tiny biting midges. It was first identified in Nigeria in the mid-1960s and has since been found sporadically in cattle in parts of Africa and in Japan.
Meanwhile, it was detected in Europe for the first time in the summer of 2026, on cattle farms in France. In cattle, the virus can cause fever, digestive problems and abdominal pain. It can also cause miscarriages, and birth defects in calves whose mothers were infected while pregnant.
The statement from France’s Ministry of Agriculture reads: “Clinical, biological, and epidemiological investigations are still underway.”
It added: “Despite decades of circulation of the Shamonda virus in Africa and Asia, no human cases had been documented until now. This is therefore an exceptional case occurring in a severely immunocompromised patient.
