French health authorities announced on Thursday that Shamonda virus had been detected in a human for the first time.
A patient with serious underlying health conditions who was being treated at a medical centre in Lyon died in early October after contracting the virus, which had previously been considered unable to infect humans.
Although the virus has circulated in Africa and Asia for decades, no human case had previously been documented. The insect-borne virus mainly affects livestock and first appeared in Europe this summer. Experts believe unusually high temperatures in Europe may have helped it spread to the continent.
Symptoms of Shamonda virus infection in livestock include fever, diarrhoea and a sudden drop in milk production among cattle. There is currently no officially approved vaccine or antiviral treatment for the disease.
Shamonda virus was first detected in Nigeria in the mid-1960s. It subsequently circulated among livestock in Africa and Japan, before appearing in European cattle farms in France, Germany and Switzerland this summer. Text: Rithy
