[Source: Reuters]

France reported the first human case of the Shamonda virus.

‌This is usually found in livestock in a hospital patient who died, though authorities said there was no risk to the general population.

It is suspected that the victim was bitten by a midge carrying the virus in eastern France where it had circulated among animals this spring and ​summer, the government said in a statement.

The victim was in his 60s and lived in the Lyon ⁠area, local newspaper Le Progres reported.

The UN’s World Health Organization said it was in contact with French authorities about the ​outbreak.

“Based on current information and knowledge of the transmission of closely related viruses, this is an isolated human case and it ​is unlikely to lead to wider spread at this time,” said the Geneva-based WHO, which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies.

“We are clearly dealing with a case that is unprecedented from a scientific and virological point of view. It is linked to this man’s severely ​weakened immune system,” Gregory Emery, head of France’s health directorate, told reporters.

“From a medical and public health point of view, ​there is no alert and no crisis,” he added.

Shamonda is transmitted by biting midges and most commonly found in ‌cattle, ⁠though it has also been found in horses, alpaca, sheep and goats, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).

There has been no report of cattle-to-human or human-to-human transmission, Emery said.

Past cases of comparable viruses also suggested limited risks from Shamonda for human health, said Dr Ben Brennan of the University of Glasgow’s Centre for Virus Research.

He cited the Schmallenberg virus that affected ​livestock in Europe more than a ​decade ago without leading ⁠to human cases, and the Cristoli virus that was linked to the death of a fragile patient in France but was not followed by other cases.