Shamonda virus found in cattle in Great Britain for the first time
Tests at the Animal and Plant Health Agency's Weybridge laboratories confirmed the midge-borne virus on two dairy farms, one in Powys and one in Shropshire. No extra disease controls are planned for now.
Shamonda virus has been confirmed in livestock in Great Britain for the first time. The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) said on Monday that the virus was detected in October in cattle on two dairy farms, one in Powys in Wales and one in Shropshire in England, after samples were tested at its laboratories in Weybridge.
The virus, known as SHAV, is thought to spread mainly through Culicoides biting midges. It has turned up in animals in several European countries during 2026, and more recently in cattle in Jersey and the Republic of Ireland. APHA said the British cases were not unexpected given those reports.
Signs in cattle
SHAV belongs to the same group of viruses as Schmallenberg virus and mainly affects cattle. When APHA reported the Jersey cases in September, it listed fever, diarrhoea, lethargy and reduced milk production among the signs, and said abortions had also been recorded in infected cattle. There is concern that infection during pregnancy could cause congenital abnormalities, as happens with Schmallenberg.
Elsewhere in Europe the virus has also been found in sheep, goats, alpacas and horses. Cases in horses with neurological disease in Germany and Switzerland matter because some of the signs can look like those of notifiable equine diseases such as West Nile fever.
Advice for keepers
SHAV is not a notifiable or reportable disease, and APHA says there is currently no evidence that further disease-control measures are needed. Defra, the Welsh Government, the Scottish Government and APHA will keep watching how it spreads and review their response as more evidence comes in.
Keepers are asked to keep checking their animals, call their own vet if they are worried and treat animals according to their symptoms as early as possible. Vets who want to discuss diagnostic tests can contact their local APHA Veterinary Investigation Centre or Surveillance Pathology Partner in England and Wales, or SRUC in Scotland. Suspected notifiable diseases in horses still have to be reported to APHA.
People and food
A single human infection has been identified, in a severely immunosuppressed person in France. APHA says there is no evidence of wider spread between people and the risk to the general population is considered very low, with the UK Health Security Agency monitoring the situation. The Food Standards Agency has said there is currently no evidence that the virus poses a food safety risk.
