Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 41, October 7 - 13 2024
During Epidemiological Week (Epiweek) 41, 28 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia (Figure 1). During week 41, 1, 821 specimens were collected, and 1, 772 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 41, 263 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 14.8%), of which 129 specimens were Influenza A, and 134 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 34), Influenza A (H3) (n = 91), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 4), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 29), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 105).
SARS CoV-2
Epiweek 41, of the 1,600 specimens processed by 22 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 73 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 4.6%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 41, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 68,728 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 3,680 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 5.4%).