Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 13, March 24 - 30 2025
During Epiweek 13, 21 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia. During week 13, 1,330 specimens were collected, and 1, 264 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 13, 157 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 12.4%), of which 120 specimens were Influenza A, and 37 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 54), Influenza A (H3) (n = 56), Influenza A (subtyping not
performed) (n = 10), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 19), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 18).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 13, of the 1,253 specimens processed by 18 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 33 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 2.6%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 13, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 18,795 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 1,043 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 5.5%).