Respiratory Virus Surveillance in the WHO African Region: Week 22, May 27 to June 2, 2024
During Epidemiological Week (Epiweek) 22, 27 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia. During week 22, 1,555 specimens were collected, and 1,449 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 22, 160 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 11%), of which 112 specimens were Influenza A, and 48 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 91), Influenza A (H3) (n = 20), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 1), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 14), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 34).
SARS CoV-2
In Epiweek 22, of the 1,476 specimens processed by 22 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 47 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 3.2%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 22, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 36,105 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 2,387 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 6.6%).