Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 36, September 1 to 7 2025
During Epiweek 36, 17 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. During week 36, 1,012 specimens were collected and 989 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 36, 90 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 9.1%), of which 58 specimens were Influenza A, and 32 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 42), Influenza A (H3)
(n = 6), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 10), Influenza B (lineage
not determined) (n = 7), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 25).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 36, of the 999 specimens processed by 14 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 37 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 3.7%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 36, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 55,972 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 2,425 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 4.3%).