A death in France triggers the alert

The Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA) said on 22 October that it is keeping watch on Shamonda virus, which affects cattle, sheep and goats. The alert followed the death of a patient in a hospital in Lyon who had severe immunosuppression. Reports describe it as the first human case detected in France, involving a patient who showed neurological symptoms and died two weeks later. French health and agriculture ministries said clinical, biological and epidemiological investigations are under way and that the population faces no health risk. Until now the virus had been considered not transmissible to humans.

“The situation in Spain remains under monitoring, with particular attention to the evolution of the cases.”

Detections on Spanish farms

The Central Veterinary Laboratory (LCV) in Algete, the national reference laboratory, confirmed Shamonda type 1 on farms in Córdoba, Toledo, Ávila, Madrid and Girona. Cantabria has certified the presence of type 2. In Girona, three dairy cattle farms were identified on 20 October through passive surveillance, the system used across Spain for this disease. Affected animals showed mainly fever, diarrhoea and a drop in milk production, symptoms the reports say are consistent with those seen elsewhere in Europe. Spanish detections have occurred in at least six provinces since September. The Generalitat de Catalunya, Catalonia's regional government, said the virus is 'not a zoonosis' and that the risk of human infection in Catalonia is very low.

Spread across Europe

Thirteen countries have reported cases: Austria, Germany, Belgium, Slovenia, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, Portugal, the United Kingdom (Jersey) and Switzerland. In the 15 days before 22 October, Portugal, Slovenia and France increased the virus's presence on their territory. Portugal confirmed on 9 October that five cattle farms tested positive, the same day Slovenia confirmed its first outbreak, in three cattle on a farm in the Savinja region in the east of the country. France has confirmed the virus in 54 departments, and infection continues to spread there. Spain's detections form one part of this wider picture.

Experts call for surveillance, not alarm

Mónica González, a senior lecturer in animal health at the University of Murcia, said she thinks the following is needed.

“They will probably have to carry out a retrospective study to see serologically how many people may be infected with the virus subclinically, without symptoms.”

She said the immediate challenge is to strengthen integrated surveillance among doctors, veterinarians, biologists and entomologists under a One Health approach, while avoiding alarm. David Roiz of the Institute for Research in Hunting Resources (IREC) at the University of Castilla-La Mancha said there is no risk for the general population because the Lyon patient was immunosuppressed. He said the case is not as strange as it might seem, since many bunyaviruses, the family the Shamonda virus belongs to, circulate naturally among mammals in tropical areas and cause sporadic human cases. He explained that the virus passes between cattle through culicoides midges, small flies that also transmit bluetongue.

“There is no risk to the general population.”