Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 44, October 27 - November 3 2024
During Epiweek 44, 26 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, 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 44, 1,718 specimens were collected, and 1,670 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 44, 219 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 13.1%), of which 111 specimens were Influenza A, and 108 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 35), Influenza A (H3)
(n = 73), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 3), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 15), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 93).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 44, of the 1,555 specimens processed by 21 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 103 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 6.6%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 44, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 73,615 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 3,951 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 5.4%).