French health authorities said Thursday that the Shamonda virus, which usually affects livestock, had been detected in a human for the first time, in a severely immunocompromised patient who died earlier this month. "Despite circulating in Africa and Asia for several decades, the Shamonda virus has never previously been detected in humans," the health and agriculture ministries said in a joint statement. They said there was "no health risk to the general public identified at this time,” adding that the human infection appeared to be "an exceptional case involving a severely immunocompromised patient" hospitalized for a serious medical condition.
