French authorities have reported the first documented human infection with Shamonda virus, a virus previously associated primarily with livestock.
The infection was detected in a hospital patient in France who subsequently died.
French officials said the patient already had a serious unrelated illness and a severely weakened immune system. The detection of the virus does not by itself establish that Shamonda virus was the principal cause of death.
The patient had been hospitalised in Lyon. Authorities suspect that the infection may have resulted from the bite of an infected midge in eastern France, where the virus had circulated among animals during the spring and summer.
Shamonda virus belongs to a group of insect-borne viruses capable of infecting livestock. It was first identified in Nigeria in the 1960s and has since been detected in animals in other regions.
The virus was detected in European livestock this year before the human case was identified.
The World Health Organization and European health authorities are monitoring the case and examining how the infection occurred.
WHO has said that, based on current information, wider transmission among humans is considered unlikely. There is presently no evidence of sustained person-to-person transmission and authorities have not identified a general threat to the public.
The case is nevertheless important because it represents the first known instance in which Shamonda virus has been documented in a human being.
WHAT WE KNOW: One human infection has been confirmed. There is currently no evidence of an outbreak or sustained human transmission.
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