Respiratory Virus Surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 23, June 3 to 9, 2024
During Epidemiological Week (Epiweek) 23, 24 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 the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. During week 23, 1,589 specimens were collected, and 1,535 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 23, 178 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 11.6%), of which 132 specimens were Influenza A, and 46 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 82), Influenza A (H3) (n = 34), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 16), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 5), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 41).
SARS CoV-2
In Epiweek 23, of the 1,507 specimens processed by 20 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 38 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 2.5%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 23, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 37,639 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 2,424 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 6.4%).