Respiratory Virus Surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 11, March 11 to 17, 2024
During Epidemiological week (Epiweek) 11, 22 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, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia. During week 11, 1,357 specimens were collected, and 1,311 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 11, 73 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 5.6%), of which 44 specimens were Influenza A, and 29 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza virus subtypes were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 11), Influenza A (H3) (n = 22), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n-11), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 5), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 24).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 11, 49 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 3.7%), of the 1,319 specimens processed by 18 laboratories regionally.
Cumulatively, from weeks 1 to 11, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 18,237 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 1,507 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative regional positivity rate 8.3%).