Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 18, April 28 to May 4 2025
During Epiweek 18, 23 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. During week 18, 1,267 specimens were collected, and 1,194 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 18, 98 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 8.2%), of which 82 specimens were Influenza A, and 16 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 26), Influenza A (H3)
(n = 47), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 9), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 6), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 10).
SARS CoV-2
In Epiweek 18, of the 1,184 specimens processed by 22 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 40 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 3.4%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 18, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 27,102 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 1,288 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 4.8%).