  Acute lower respiratory infections caused by respiratory viruses are common
and persistent infectious diseases worldwide and in China, which have
pronounced seasonal patterns. Meteorological factors have important roles in
the seasonality of some major viruses. Our aim was to identify the dominant
meteorological factors and to model their effects on common respiratory viruses
in different regions of China. We analysed monthly virus data on patients from
81 sentinel hospitals in 22 provinces in mainland China from 2009 to 2013. The
geographical detector method was used to quantify the explanatory power of each
meteorological factor, individually and interacting in pairs. 28369
hospitalised patients with ALRI were tested, 10387 were positive for at least
one virus, including RSV, influenza virus, PIV, ADV, hBoV, hCoV and hMPV. RSV
and influenza virus had annual peaks in the north and biannual peaks in the
south. PIV and hBoV had higher positive rates in the spring summer months. hMPV
had an annual peak in winter spring, especially in the north. ADV and hCoV
exhibited no clear annual seasonality. Temperature, atmospheric pressure,
vapour pressure, and rainfall had most explanatory power on most respiratory
viruses in each region. Relative humidity was only dominant in the north, but
had no significant explanatory power for most viruses in the south. Hours of
sunlight had significant explanatory power for RSV and influenza virus in the
north, and for most viruses in the south. Wind speed was the only factor with
significant explanatory power for human coronavirus in the south. For all
viruses, interactions between any two of the paired factors resulted in
enhanced explanatory power, either bivariately or non-linearly.
