Shamonda virus: WHO calls for studies on transmission after first human case in France

The WHO confirmed on October 22, 2026, the first known human case of Shamonda virus, in a patient in France who died earlier that month. The patient was immunocompromised and seriously ill, and lived in an area where the virus was circulating among animals and Culicoides midges were present; the virus’s exact role in the death has not been established. The WHO is working with French authorities to identify the infection source and possible transmission routes, while French ministries say no risk to the general population has been identified. First isolated in cattle in Nigeria in 1965, the virus was detected in Europe for the first time in June 2026, in cattle in southern Germany and Switzerland.