Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 21, May 19 to 25 2025
During Epiweek 21, 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, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, and United Republic of Tanzania. During week 21, 1,421 specimens were collected, and 1,273 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 21, 146 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 11.5%), of which 125 specimens were Influenza A, and 21 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 61), Influenza A (H3)(n = 58), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 6), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 10), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 11).
SARS CoV-2
In Epiweek 21, of the 1,290 specimens processed by 20 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 56 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 4.3%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 21, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 31,333 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 1,468 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 4.7%).