It Happened Again – Emergence of a Shamonda-like Orthobunyavirus in Central Europe, 2026

Abstract Since mid-June 2026, an acute, non-fatal syndrome with high herd morbidity, reduced milk yield, diarrhea, fever and lethargy affected dairy cattle in southern Germany and Switzerland. Major viral pathogens were excluded. Pan-Simbuvirus PCR first detected an orthobunyavirus, subsequently confirmed by metagenomic sequencing, which enabled recovery of a complete “Shamonda-like” genome. One sentence summary line More than a decade after the emergence of Schmallenberg virus in 2011, a novel “Shamonda-like” orthobunyavirus of the Simbu serogroup has now emerged in Central Europe.