Schmallenberg in human

Extremely low risk for human infection with the Schmallenberg virus.

So far there have been no reported cases of infection with Schmallenberg virus (SBV) in humans. Since the start of the outbreaks, many researchers had already suggested that the zoonotic potential of this new virus was low. The reasons to support this idea are based on the similarity of the SBV with Simbu serogroup viruses. Up to date, there has been no human infection by any of the three most homologous viruses (Akabane, Aino and Shamonda). However, it is known that at least two members of this serogroup, Oropouche and Iquitos viruses, do affect humans. In addition, the SBV is proving to have epidemiological, clinical and genetic peculiarities, not previously described. Therefore, the German Robert Koch Institute (RKI) has conducted a survey in 60 sheep and cattle owners in the estate of North Rhine-Westphalia, in order to understand the involvement of humans in the epidemiological cycle. Antibodies have not been found in any of these samples. In addition, samples of some farmers who had nonspecific symptoms (such as fever or headaches) were analyzed by RT-PCR (in case it was a recent infection) yielding negative results.

Although further investigations are needed, these results are quite encouraging. Given that these farmers have been highly exposed to the virus for several weeks (since they come from an area with a very high rate of infected animals) these findings suggest that the risk of human infection with the SBV is extremely low.

 

All the information about Schmallenberg Virus  is available at Emerging diseases online
 

Víctor Rodríguez Prieto & José Manuel Sánchez-Vizcaíno
SUAT-UC