Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 28, July 8 to 14 2024
During Epidemiological Week (Epiweek) 28, 22 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. During week 28, 1,645 specimens were collected and 1,619 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 28, 264 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 16.3%), of which 193 specimens were Influenza A, and 71 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 94), Influenza A (H3) (n = 91), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 8), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 5), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 66).
SARS CoV-2
In Epiweek 28, of the 1,470 specimens processed by 19 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 44 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 3%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 28, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 45,275 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 2,673 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 5.9%).