Interplay between climate, childhood mixing, and population-level susceptibility explains a sudden shift in RSV seasonality in Japan

Titrating the relative importance of endogenous and exogenous drivers for dynamical transitions in host-pathogen systems remains an important research frontier towards predicting future outbreaks and making public health decisions. In Japan, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a major childhood respiratory pathogen, displayed a sudden, dramatic shift in outbreak seasonality (from winter to fall) in 2016. This shift was not observed in any other countries. We use mathematical models to identify processes that could lead to this outcome. In line with previous analyses, we identify a robust quadratic relationship between mean specific humidity and transmission, with minimum transmission occurring at intermediate humidity. This drives semiannual patterns of seasonal transmission rates that peak in summer and winter. Under this transmission regime, a subtle increase in population-level susceptibility can cause a sudden shift in seasonality, where the degree of shift is primarily determined by the interval between the two peaks of seasonal transmission rate. We hypothesize that an increase in children attending childcare facilities may have contributed to the increase in susceptibility through increased contact rates with susceptible hosts. Our analysis underscores the power of studying infectious disease dynamics to titrate the roles of underlying drivers of dynamical transitions in ecology.