Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 42, October 14 - 20 2024
During Epidemiological Week (Epiweek) 42, 26 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia. During week 42, 1,837 specimens were collected, and 1,799 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 42, 260 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 14.5%), of which 136 specimens were Influenza A, and 124 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 57), Influenza A (H3) (n = 78), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 1), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 20), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 104).
SARS CoV-2
In Epiweek 42, of the 1,674 specimens processed by 20 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 76 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 4.5%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 42, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 70,501 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 3,763 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 5.3%).