Influenza is a major cause of respiratory illness in Africa, especially in children. Further strengthening influenza surveillance, along with conducting special studies on influenza burden, cost of illness, and role of other respiratory pathogens will help detect novel influenza viruses and inform and develop targeted influenza prevention policy decisions in the region.

Intermittent preventive treatment using sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine during pregnancy remains warranted in southwestern DRC. However, the expansion of pfdhps-K540E mutation and emergence of mutants that cause higher levels of sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine resistance is concerning and may present a challenge for future preventive interventions in the country.

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Little is known about influenza in central Africa. We conducted sentinel surveillance for influenza-like illness, severe acute respiratory illness, and laboratory-confirmed influenza at 5 sites in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, from January 2009 through April 2011. We obtained samples from 4156 patients, of whom 605 (15%) had specimens containing laboratory-confirmed influenza virus. Apart from the period of pandemic influenza due to influenza A virus subtype H1N1, which occurred during August-December 2009, influenza activity peaked at least once each year from January through March, predominantly among children. These data can guide interventions to reduce the burden of influenza in the Democratic Republic of Congo and central Africa.

During 2004–2014, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) declared 54% of plague cases worldwide. Using national data, we characterized the epidemiology of human plague in DRC for this period. All 4,630 suspected human plague cases and 349 deaths recorded in DRC came from Orientale Province. Pneumonic plague cases (8.8% of total) occurred during 2 major outbreaks in mining camps in the equatorial forest, and some limited outbreaks occurred in the Ituri highlands. Epidemics originated in 5 health zones clustered in Ituri, where sporadic bubonic cases were recorded throughout every year. Classification and regression tree characterized this cluster by the dominance of ecosystem 40 (mountain tropical climate). In conclusion, a small, stable, endemic focus of plague in the highlands of the Ituri tropical region persisted, acting as a source of outbreaks in DRC.