Respiratory Virus Surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 09, February 26 to March 3, 2024
During Epidemiological week (Epiweek) 9, 20 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia. During week 9, 1,521 specimens were collected, and 1,511 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 9, 89 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 5.9%), of which 59 specimens were Influenza A, and 30 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza virus subtypes were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 12), Influenza A (H3) (n = 44), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 3), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 2), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 28).
In Epiweek 9, 62 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 4.6%), of the 1,334 specimens processed by 17 laboratories regionally.
Cumulatively, from weeks 1 to 9, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 13,889 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 768 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative regional positivity rate 5.5%).