A person dies in France with the shamonda virus, which was believed not to be transmissible to humans

A man who suffered from severe immunosuppression and died earlier this month in Lyon was contaminated by the shamonda virus, known to affect livestock but which until now was considered not to be transmissible to people, the French Government announced this Thursday.

In a joint statement, the Ministries of Health and Agriculture highlighted that with the knowledge available about the virus, "no health risk for the general population has been identified for now."

The deceased man, whose age or identity was not communicated, was admitted to the Civil Hospices of Lyon for a serious pathology, and in their statement the French authorities indicated that clinical, biological and epidemiological investigations are being carried out that bring together experts in human, animal and environmental health.

Experts dealing with the case believe that the brain complications that occurred are "most likely linked to the shamonda virus infection."

Shamonda is a virus that was first identified in Nigeria in the mid-1960s, which transmits a culicoides mosquito mainly to cattle and which this past summer was detected for the first time in several parts of Europe, among others in France.

The contamination of this patient constitutes the first documented detection of this virus in a person.

The hypothesis of the French authorities is that contamination by a mosquito occurred in eastern France, an area where the circulation of shamonda had been observed in spring and summer.

In any case, they consider that this is "an exceptional case" in a patient with a severely weakened immune system.

France has notified international health bodies, specifically the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).