Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 38, September 22 to 28 2025
During Epiweek 39, 15 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia. During week 39, 1,062 specimens were collected, and 1,041 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 39, 154 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 14.8%), of which 131 specimens were Influenza A, and 23 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 83), Influenza A (H3) (n = 19), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 29), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 23).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 39, of the 1,026 specimens processed by 13 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 21 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 2%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 39, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 61,837 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 2,504 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 4%).