A man dies in France from the Shamonda virus, which rarely affects humans

BarcelonaFrench health authorities confirmed this Thursday the death of a man due to the Shamonda virus, a pathogen transmitted mainly by mosquitoes to cattle, sheep, and goats and until now considered very poorly transmissible to humans. In fact, this is the first documented and reported detection of the virus in humans, although there is documentation that other viruses in the same group can make the species jump.

The man, who died in early October, was admitted to a hospital in Lyon and presented immunosuppression due to serious illnesses, which is why his body was more susceptible to any pathogen and infection than that of the general population. The authorities have not given details of his identity, such as his age or the pathologies he suffered, but they have said that everything points to the fact that the cerebral complications the patient suffered before dying were likely related to the infection.

According to a joint statement from the French ministries of Health and Agriculture, clinical, biological, and epidemiological investigations have already begun to study the case, which they consider "exceptional," as it occurred in a patient with a very weakened immune system. France has already notified the positive result to international health bodies, that is, to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

In this sense, the ECDC has sent a statement in which it assures that it is "closely monitoring the situation" with the European Commission and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and with the French authorities to investigate the possible implications of this first human infection for public health.

An insect, the main hypothesis

The initial hypothesis is that the transmission occurred through the bite of an insect of the genus Culicoides –of the same order as mosquitoes– in eastern France, where the circulation of the virus in animals had already been detected during the spring and summer of 2026. For now, however, it is unknown which specific species of these insects was involved in the transmission in this case. In Europe, these insects are generally most active from spring to autumn, although seasonal patterns vary depending on the species, location, and weather conditions. With the drop in temperatures, the activity of most Culicoides species is decreasing in Europe.

The Shamonda virus belongs to the genus Orthobunyavirus and was first detected in Nigeria in the mid-sixties. It was named following the tradition of using the name of the local settlement where the laboratory where it was isolated was located. To this day, sporadic cases had been reported in various regions of Africa and in Japan, although this summer a variant was also detected for the first time in Central Europe, called Shamonda-Europe; specifically, in Switzerland at the end of July and mainly in livestock.

"Human infection occurred after the first detection of the Shamonda virus in European farm animals, during the summer of 2026. In animals, the first clinical signs were reported in June and the virus was identified at the end of July. Since then, it has been detected in farm animals in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland, as well as on the island of Jersey", the ECDC detailed.