Czechia confirms first Shamonda virus case in cattle; human risk very low

Veterinarians have confirmed Czechia’s first case of Shamonda virus on a cattle farm in the Tábor district, the State Veterinary Administration announced Friday.

The virus was detected in an aborted bovine fetus. Some adult cattle on the farm are also showing symptoms, although the announcement did not confirm infection in those animals.

The finding comes a day after France reported the first documented human case. Czech health authorities assess the risk to residents as very low, while the World Health Organization considers wider human transmission unlikely.

Shamonda is an insect-borne virus that can cause illness and reproductive problems in livestock.

In cattle, symptoms can include fever, loss of appetite, diarrhea and a substantial reduction in milk production. Infection during pregnancy can cause miscarriage or congenital abnormalities, and the virus can pass from mother to fetus.

The State Veterinary Administration said current Czech and European legislation does not classify Shamonda among diseases requiring compulsory emergency control measures.

Confirmation therefore does not automatically oblige the affected farm to introduce restrictions, nor does it affect veterinary certification for moving animals abroad, according to the administration.

Authorities may nevertheless advise precautions, such as limiting animal movements while clinical symptoms are present.

Czech veterinarians introduced mandatory testing at the beginning of October after detections elsewhere in Europe. Surveillance focuses on aborted fetuses, calves born with developmental abnormalities, and stillborn or nonviable calves.

Because insects transmit the virus, routine farm precautions cannot reliably prevent infection. Veterinarians say farmers can consider measures to protect susceptible animals from insect vectors.

France’s case involved a man in his 60s with a severely weakened immune system who subsequently died. Authorities have not established that the virus caused his death.

The case is the first documented human infection despite the virus having circulated among animals for decades. Czech Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Matyáš Fošum said Thursday that the Health Ministry considered the risk to Czech residents very low.

The World Health Organization is monitoring the case. It said the available information suggested an isolated infection unlikely to lead to wider transmission.

Jiří Černý, a virologist at the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, likewise described Shamonda as presenting no significant threat to the general population. He noted that severe immune suppression can make patients vulnerable to microorganisms that do not usually cause illness in healthy people.

First identified in Nigeria in the 1960s, Shamonda was subsequently detected intermittently in animals in Africa and Japan. It appeared in European livestock this summer and has since been confirmed in several countries, including Germany, Austria and France.

The Czech detection establishes its presence in one herd. It does not, by itself, indicate a wider public-health emergency.