Seasonality in the migration and establishment of H3N2 Influenza lineages with epidemic growth and decline

TL;DR

This study models how seasonal migration patterns of H3N2 influenza influence its global spread, extinction, and evolution, highlighting the importance of seasonality in understanding influenza dynamics and improving prediction and vaccine strategies.

Contribution

It introduces a model incorporating seasonally varying migration rates, linking epidemic timing with migration windows and viral lineage persistence, advancing understanding of influenza's seasonal behavior.

Findings

Seasonal migration windows align with epidemic growth and decline phases.

Local lineage extinction correlates with seasonal patterns and population size.

Seasonality influences long-term viral evolution and establishment success.

Abstract

Background: Influenza A/H3N2 has been circulating in humans since 1968, causing considerable morbidity and mortality. Although H3N2 incidence is highly seasonal, how such seasonality contributes to global phylogeographic migration dynamics has not yet been established. Results: Incorporating seasonally varying migration rates improves the modeling of migration. In our global model, windows of increased immigration map to the seasonal timing of epidemic spread, while windows of increased emigration map to epidemic decline. Seasonal patterns also correlate with the probability that local lineages go extinct and fail to contribute to long term viral evolution, as measured through the trunk of the phylogeny. However, the fraction of the trunk in each community was found to be better determined by its overall human population size Conclusions: Seasonal migration and rapid turnover within regions is sustained by the invasion of 'fertile epidemic grounds' at the end of older epidemics. Thus, the current emphasis on connectivity, including air-travel, should be complemented with a better understanding of the conditions and timing required for successful establishment.Models which account for migration seasonality will improve our understanding of the seasonal drivers of influenza,enhance epidemiological predictions, and ameliorate vaccine updating by identifying strains that not only escape immunity but also have the seasonal opportunity to establish and spread. Further work is also needed on additional conditions that contribute to the persistence and long term evolution of influenza within the human population,such as spatial heterogeneity with respect to climate and seasonality