France Reports First Human Shamonda Virus Infection
PARIS, October 22 (Saudi Arabia Breaking News) - France reported the first known human infection with Shamonda virus on Thursday, prompting a European public health investigation into a disease previously found only in animals.
The patient died in early October after receiving treatment for a serious illness that increased their susceptibility to infection, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said. Investigations are continuing into how the infection was acquired and whether the virus caused or contributed to the death.
French authorities said no health risk to the general population had been identified based on the information available.
The leading hypothesis is that the patient contracted the infection in eastern France, where the virus circulated among animals during the spring and summer.
ECDC said it was monitoring the situation and working with French authorities and European partners to assess the potential public health implications.
Shamonda is transmitted by biting midges and most commonly affects cattle, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health. It has also been detected in horses, alpacas, sheep and goats. No commercially available vaccine exists against the virus.
First identified in Nigeria in the mid-1960s, Shamonda was confirmed in Europe in late July following tests on sick cattle in southern Germany, Switzerland and eastern France.
French animal health surveillance has since recorded detections in several other European countries. A study covering nine French dairy farms found milk production fell by up to 75% in affected herds.
Source: Reuters.
