Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 15, April 7 to 13 2025
During Epiweek 15, 15 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Chad, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, and Togo. During week 15, 899 specimens were collected, and 804 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 15, 105 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 13.1%), of which 99 specimens were Influenza A, and 6 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 39), Influenza A (H3) (n = 47), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 13), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 3), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 3).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 15, of the 889 specimens processed by 12 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 26 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 2.9%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 15, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 21,612 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 1,098 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 5.1%)