The Shamonda virus, which primarily affects livestock, has been detected in 14 European countries, according to France’s national research institute for animal health.
The virus was first detected in Europe in late July, although it had previously been identified in Nigeria in the mid-1960s and reported in cattle across several parts of Africa and Japan.
French health authorities on Thursday reported the first known human infection with the virus. The patient, who was severely immunocompromised and receiving hospital treatment for a serious medical condition, died earlier this month.
Cattle are considered the virus’s primary animal hosts, although sporadic infections have also been identified in smaller livestock and horses in France this summer.
In cattle, the main symptoms include acute diarrhoea, fever, lethargy and reduced milk production.
An investigation into the human infection is ongoing, while the World Health Organization and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control have been notified.
In a joint statement, France’s health and agriculture ministries said there was “no health risk to the general public identified at this time”.
The ministries described the infection as “an exceptional case involving a severely immunocompromised patient” who had been 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 statement said.
The Shamonda virus belongs to the Orthobunyavirus group and is typically transmitted to animals through the bites of small insects.
According to the ministries, the patient was believed to have contracted the virus through the bite of a midge in eastern France, where the pathogen had been circulating among animals during the spring and summer.
The authorities also said preliminary findings suggested that the neurological complications the patient experienced before death were likely linked to the infection.
However, they stressed that clinical, biological and epidemiological investigations were still ongoing to establish the circumstances surrounding the case.