France reports first human case of livestock virus Shamonda
Authorities say the infection appears isolated in a severely immunocompromised patient, and investigators are still examining how the virus spread.
- On Thursday, French health authorities announced the first documented human infection with the Shamonda virus, involving a severely immunocompromised patient who died in early October.
- The virus typically spreads through Culicoides midge bites, primarily affecting livestock like cattle, and had only been identified in animals since its first European detection this summer.
- Investigators suspect the patient contracted the virus via a Culicoides midge bite in eastern France, where neurological complications observed before death were "very likely linked" to the infection.
- French officials notified the World Health Organization and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, stating there is "no health risk to the general public identified at this time."
- Experts emphasize the patient's serious underlying illness made them uniquely susceptible; this finding does not necessarily suggest significant risk to otherwise healthy individuals.
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France reports first human case of livestock virus Shamonda after patient dies
Story by Reuters (CNN) — France on Thursday reported the first human case of the Shamonda virus usually found in livestock in a patient who later died, with authorities adding there was no risk to the general population at this stage. It is suspected that the victim was bitten by a midge carrying the virus
The deceased man, of whom neither age nor identity was communicated, was interned in the Civil Hospices of Lyon for a serious illness.
In France, the first case of infection with the shamonda virus in humans has been confirmed. According to the authorities, the virus, which is known to usually affect livestock, was detected in a patient with a severely weakened immune system who died earlier this month in France. They stressed that the virus does not pose a risk to the population for now.
Detected for the first time in humans, the Shamonda virus caused the death of a heavily immunocompromised patient in the civilian Hospices in Lyon. While the news arouses fears of a new pandemic threat, the health authorities want to be reassuring: it is a case of opportunistic animal-based infection without interhuman transmission or risk for [...] Read article First human case and a death in Lyon: what do we know about the mysterious Shamonda …
The virus usually affects livestock, but has now been detected in a person with a weakened immune system. There is no reason for alarm (yet).
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