Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 39, September 23 - 29 2024
During Epidemiological Week (Epiweek) 39, 30 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, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. During week 39, 1,591 specimens were collected, and 1,561 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 39, 255 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 16.3%), of which 181 specimens were Influenza A, and 74 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 43), Influenza A (H3) (n = 134), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 4), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 5), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 69).
SARS CoV-2
In Epiweek 39, of the 1,417 specimens processed by 24 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 74 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 5.2%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 39, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 65,593 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 3,536 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 5.4%).