Respiratory Virus Surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 33, August 12 to 18 2024
During Epidemiological Week (Epiweek) 33, 26 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, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe (Figure 1). During week
33, 1,640 specimens were collected and 1,610 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 33, 286 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 17.8%), of which 188 specimens were Influenza A, and 98 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 35), Influenza A (H3) (n = 140), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 13), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 6), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 92).
SARS CoV-2
In Epiweek 33, of the 1,475 specimens processed by 22 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 60 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 4.1%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 33, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 55,040 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 3,088 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 5.6%).