Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 14, March 31 to April 6 2025
During Epiweek 14, 18 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Seychelles, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia. During week 14, 1,046 specimens were collected, and 1,029 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 14, 116 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 11.3%), of which 92 specimens were Influenza A, and 24 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 34), Influenza A (H3) (n = 47), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 11), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 4), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 20).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 14, of the 904 specimens processed by 15 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 24 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 2.7%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 14, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 19,818 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 1,068 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 5.4%).