In the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, influenza activity remained low in September in countries reporting data to FluNet and EMFLU namely, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Egypt, Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, occupied Palestinian territory, Qatar and Saudi Arabia (Fig. 1). All seasonal influenza subtypes were detected in the region.
Fig. 1. Influenza activity in Eastern Mediterranean Region, September 2017
Influenza activity by subtype
- In September 2017, no new cases of influenza A(H5N1) were reported in Egypt.
- In the northern Africa influenza transmission zone, Morocco reported circulation of sporadic cases of Influenza A.
- In the western Asia influenza transmission zone, Bahrain reported circulation of Influenza A, while Qatar and Saudi Arabia reported circulation of all seasonal influenza subtypes.
- In southern Asia transmission zone, Iran (Islamic Republic of) reported circulation of sporadic cases of the all seasonal influenza subtypes.
Fig. 2 shows the weekly distribution of influeza subtypes.
Fig. 2. Weekly positive cases of influenza by subtype, Epi week 39/2016-2017
Circulating influenza viruses by subtype
- During September 2017, regional national influenza centre and influenza laboratories tested a total of 2,228 specimens for influenza viruses of which 400 tested positive (17.9%). The average percentage of positivity rate is 9.
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Of the viruses tested, 375 (94%) were influenza A viruses, including 119 (30%) influenza A/H1N1pdm09 viruses and 235 (59%) were influenza A/H3 viruses; 26 (6%) were influenza B viruses (Fig. 3).
