French health authorities announced on Thursday that the Shamonda virus, typically affecting livestock, had been detected in a human for the first time in a severely immunocompromised patient who died earlier this month.
The Health and Agriculture Ministries stated in a joint report that there is currently no identified health risk to the general public from the virus.
Investigators believe the patient contracted the virus through a midge bite in eastern France, where the pathogen has circulated among cattle and other livestock across 14 European countries.