Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 16, April 14 to 20 2025
During Epiweek 16, 14 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Ghana, Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, South Sudan, and Togo. During week 16, 804 specimens were collected and 778 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 16, 129 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 16.6%), of which 113 specimens were Influenza A, and 16 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 34), Influenza A (H3) (n = 44), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 35), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 6), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 10).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 16, of the 780 specimens processed by 13 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 24 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 3.1%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 16, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 23,089 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 1,153 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 5%).