Respiratory Virus Surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 27, July 1 to 7 2024
During Epiweek 27, 23 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, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. During week 27, 1,522 specimens were collected, and 1,486 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 27, 162 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 10.9%), of which 122 specimens were Influenza A, and 40 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 62), Influenza A (H3) (n = 52), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 8), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 5), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 35).
SARS CoV-2
In Epiweek 27, of the 1,434 specimens processed by 20 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 44 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 3.1%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 27, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 43,805 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 2,629 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 6%).