France has found Shamonda virus in a human for the first time ever.
It is a livestock virus spread by tiny biting midges. It mainly affects cattle.
A patient died in October at the Hospices Civils de Lyon. He had a weakened immune system.
Until now, scientists considered the virus unable to infect humans. This case breaks that assumption.
French officials said brain complications were very likely linked to the infection.
The leading theory is eastern France, where the virus spread among animals this spring and summer.
The virus was found in Germany in August. It has also reached Switzerland, Austria, and Ireland.
It was first identified in Nigeria in the mid-1960s, then seen in animals in Africa and Japan.
There is currently no vaccine. It is related to the Schmallenberg livestock virus.
It can cause fever in adult cattle and birth problems in infected pregnant animals.
French authorities said there is no danger to the general population at this stage.
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