Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 51, December 16 - 22 2024
During Epiweek 51, 20 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, Gabon, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. During week 51, 838 specimens were collected, and 806 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 51, 70 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 8.7%), of which 31 specimens were Influenza A, and 39 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 13), Influenza A (H3) (n = 13), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 5), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 13), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 26).
SARS CoV-2
In Epiweek 51, of the 745 specimens processed by 17 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 102 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 13.7%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 51, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 82,270 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 4,572 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 5.6%).