Respiratory Virus Surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 12, March 18 to 24, 2024
During Epidemiological week (Epiweek) 12, 23 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, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia. During week 12, 1,740 specimens were collected, and 1,736 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 12, 85 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 4.9%), of which 61 specimens were Influenza A, and 24 specimens were Influenza B, out of 1736 specimens processed. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 15), Influenza A (H3) (n = 46), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 3), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 21).SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 12, a total of 56 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 3.5%), of the 1,606 specimens processed by 19 laboratories regionally.
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 12, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 19,993 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 1,579 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 7.9%).