Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 32, August 5 to 11 2024
During Epidemiological Week (Epiweek) 32, 27 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, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. During week 32, 1,931 specimens were collected, and 1,903 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 32, 381 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 20%), of which 254 specimens were Influenza A, and 127 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 67), Influenza A (H3) (n = 170), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 17), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 6), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 121).
SARS CoV-2
In Epiweek 32, of the 1,727 specimens processed by 23 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 66 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 3.8%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 32, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 53,565 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 3,028 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 5.7%).