The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA) has communicated that it continues to closely monitor the evolution of the Shamonda virus, which affects cattle, sheep, and goats. The intensification of monitoring comes after the death of a person in France due to this pathogen, which has so far been classified as non-transmissible to humans, and after its presence has been confirmed in recent weeks in farms in at least six provinces of Spain.
The Central Veterinary Laboratory (LCV) of Algete, which acts as the National Reference Laboratory, has verified the circulation of Shamonda virus type 1 in farms in Córdoba, Toledo, Ávila, Madrid, and Girona. In this last province, it was identified on October 20 in three dairy cattle farms. Additionally, in Cantabria, the detection of Shamonda type 2 has been certified.
Among the affected animals, episodes of fever, diarrheal conditions, and a decrease in milk production have been mainly observed, a clinical picture that coincides with that described in other European countries. These detections have been made within the passive surveillance system that Spain maintains for this disease.
"The situation in Spain continues to be monitored, with special attention to the evolution of cases, the characterization of the identified viruses, and their possible relation to the genotypes described in other European countries," states the latest update from MAPA.
Concern has increased after a patient admitted to a hospital in Lyon with severe immunodepression died as a result of the shamonda virus. The ministries of Health and Agriculture of France have explained that clinical, biological, and epidemiological investigations are being carried out and have insisted that "there is no health risk to the population."
SITUATION IN EUROPE
Austria, Germany, Belgium, Slovenia, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, Portugal, the United Kingdom (Jersey), and Switzerland have recently reported the presence of the shamonda virus in their territory. In the last two weeks, Portugal, Slovenia, and France have recorded an increase in cases.
Portugal reported on October 9 five positive cattle farms, the same date on which Slovenia communicated its first outbreak of the virus in three cattle from a farm located in the Savinja region, in the east of the country.
France, for its part, has confirmed the circulation of the virus in 54 departments, with a continued expansion of the infection among different species of livestock. In the bovine census, sick animals have been detected in 52 departments.
In sheep, the official confirmation occurred in September in the departments of Oise and Aveyron, where the outbreaks manifested through severe congenital malformations in lambs, such as arthrogryposis and brachygnathia, and the viral genome was identified in brain tissue of the affected animals.
The first case in humans in France was reported on September 23. The patient began with neurological symptoms and died two weeks after the onset of symptoms. The coincidence of virological, clinical, radiological, and epidemiological findings points to a possible link between the infection by the virus and the clinical state of the patient, although it still does not allow for establishing a definitive relationship.