Extreme weather events pose various significant impacts on society including human health. While impacts of temperature extremes on human mortality or morbidity have been widely studied, adverse effects of other extreme weather phenomena and weather variability have so far received much less attention. The aim of our analysis is to identify weather situations that are favorable for the development of influenza/acute respiratory infections (ARI) outbreaks. We employ a long-term (1982–2020) epidemiological and meteorological datasets in the Czech Republic in order to investigate links between weather variability and influenza/ARI incidence. Relative morbidity deviations from the adjusted baseline are used to estimate the effect of weather extremes or their compound effects on excess morbidity. These extremely complex links are analyzed with respect to the predominant type of influenza virus in each winter season (A/H3N2 and A/H1N1 subtypes, and B lineages). Understanding the weather conditions that increase the transmission and survival of influenza and respiratory viruses could help to better inform the at-risk populations, implement preventive measures, and mitigate the negative impacts of influenza and ARI.
The 28th IUGG General Assembly (IUGG2023) (Berlin 2023)