Impact of extreme weather events on the occurrence of infectious diseases in Belgium from 2011 to 2021.

The role of meteorological factors, such as rainfall or temperature, as key players in the transmission and survival of infectious agents is poorly understood. The aim of this study was to compare meteorological surveillance data with epidemiological surveillance data in Belgium and to investigate the association between intense weather events and the occurrence of infectious diseases. Meteorological data were aggregated per Belgian province to obtain weekly average temperatures and rainfall per province and categorized according to the distribution of the variables. Epidemiological data included weekly cases of reported pathogens responsible for gastroenteritis, respiratory, vector-borne and invasive infections normalized per 100 000 population. The association between extreme weather events and infectious events was determined by comparing the mean weekly incidence of the considered infectious diseases after each weather event that occurred after a given number of weeks. Very low temperatures were associated with higher incidences of influenza and parainfluenza viruses,