Respiratory Virus Surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 19, May 6 to 12 2024
During Epidemiological week (Epiweek) 19, 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, Mauritius, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Seychelles, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia. During week 19, 1,529 specimens were collected and 1,520 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 19, 153 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 10.1%), of which 123 specimens were Influenza A, and 30 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 100), Influenza A (H3) (n = 22), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 1), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 3), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 27).
SARS CoV-2
In Epiweek 18, of the 1,476 specimens processed by 20 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 92 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 6.2%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 19, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 30,248 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 2,150 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 7.1%).