Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 31, July 29 to 4 August 2024
During Epidemiological Week (Epiweek) 31, 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 the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia. During week 31, 1,321 specimens were collected and 1.277 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 31, 341 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 26.7%), of which 256 specimens were Influenza A, and 85 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 61), Influenza A (H3) (n = 176), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 19), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 2), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 83).
SARS CoV-2
In Epiweek 31, of the 1,216 specimens processed by 19 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 46 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 3.8%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 31, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 50,020 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 2,921 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 5.8%).