France reports first human Shamonda virus case

French health authorities said Thursday that the Shamonda virus, which usually affects livestock, had been detected in a human for the first time, in a severely immunocompromised patient who died earlier this month. There was "no health risk to the general public identified at this time", the health and agriculture ministries said in a joint statement. It added that the human infection appeared to be "an exceptional case involving a severely immunocompromised patient" hospitalised for a serious medical condition. "Despite circulating in Africa and Asia for several decades, the Shamonda virus has never previously been detected in humans," the ministries said. The virus, which belongs to the Orthobunyavirus group and is typically transmitted to animals by small biting insects, was first detected in Europe this summer, they said.