Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 3, 13 - 19 January 2025
During Epiweek 3, 27 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. During week 3, 1,613 specimens were collected, and 1,489 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 3, 169 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 11.3%), of which 117 specimens were Influenza A, and 52 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 57), Influenza A (H3) (n = 57), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 3), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 7), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 45).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 3, of the 1,426 specimens processed by 21 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 164 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 11.5%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 3, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 3,513 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 446 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 12.7%).