Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 5, January 27 - February 2 2025
During Epiweek 5, 23 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Togo, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.
During week 5, 1, 217 specimens were collected and 1,179 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 5, 180 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 15.3%), of which 139 specimens were Influenza A, and 41 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 45), Influenza A (H3)
(n = 93), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 1), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 9), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 32).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 5, of the 1,104 specimens processed by 17 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 58 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 5.3%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 5, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 5,959 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 606 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 10.2%).