Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 37, September 8 to 14 2025
During Epiweek 37, 16 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Seychelles, South Africa, Togo, Uganda, and United Republic of Tanzania. During week 37, 981 specimens were collected, and 846 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 37, 105 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 12.4%), of which 73 specimens were Influenza A, and 32 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 53), Influenza A (H3) (n = 16), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 4), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 3), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 29).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 37, of the 949 specimens processed by 13 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 21 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 2.2%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 37, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 57,354 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 2,448 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 4.3%).