Respiratory Virus Surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 08: February 19 to 25, 2024
During Epidemiological week (Epiweek) 8, 18 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, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia. During week 8, 1,521 specimens were collected, and 1,490 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 8, 124 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 8.3%), of which 82 specimens were Influenza A, and 42 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza virus subtypes were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 8), Influenza A (H3) (n = 72), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 2), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 18), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 24).
In Epiweek 8, 54 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 4%), of the 1,367 specimens processed by 15 laboratories regionally.
Cumulatively, from weeks 1 to 8, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 12,215 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 675 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative regional positivity rate 5.5%).