Respiratory Virus Surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 26, June 24 to 30 2024
During Epidemiological Week (Epiweek) 26, 25 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, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. During week 26, 1,731 specimens were collected 1,641 and were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 26, 195 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 11.9%), of which 156 specimens were Influenza A, and 39 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 70), Influenza A (H3) (n = 75), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 11), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 5), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 34).
SARS CoV-2
In Epiweek 26, of the 1,651 specimens processed by 22 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 50 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 3%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 26, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 42,371 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 2,585 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 6.1%)