The Shamonda virus has been identified in a human patient for the first time, French health authorities said on Thursday, adding that they saw no risk to the general population at this stage.

The insect-borne virus primarily affects livestock, particularly cattle, and is transmitted by biting midges. It has until now been considered non-transmissible to humans, the French government said.

The leading hypothesis is that the patient may have been infected in eastern France, where the virus had been circulating among animals during spring and summer 2026.

The patient, who already had a weakened immune system, died in October while being treated at the Hospices Civils de Lyon for a serious illness, according to FranceInfo.

“Clinical, biological, and epidemiological investigations are still underway,” the ministry of agriculture said, adding that cerebral complications seen in the patient were “very likely” linked to the Shamonda infection.

First identified in Nigeria in the mid-1960s, the Orthobunyavirus has since been detected sporadically in animals in Africa and Japan. It has been spreading among several European countries this year.

The disease can cause sudden fever, loose stool and abdominal discomfort in adult cattle, according to the UK Animal and Plant Health Agency, which last month observed the virus had been detected in cows in Jersey.

The agency said abortions have been documented in infected cattle and noted concerns that infection during pregnancy could result in congential abnormalities. The disease has also been detected in sheep, goats, horses and alpacas, they said.

The Shamonda virus was first detected in Germany in August and has already been detected in France, Switzerland and Austria, the Laboklin laboratory for veterinary diagnostics reported. There is currently no available vaccine.

Shamonda is an RNA virus belonging to the Simbu serogroup and genetically related to the Schmallenberg virus. The virus was not thought to be fatal in cattle, according to the British Agriculture Bureau.

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