Epidemic spreading in evolving networks

TL;DR

This paper introduces a model for epidemic spreading on rewiring networks, revealing that rewiring generally suppresses epidemics and alters thresholds compared to static networks, especially in scale-free networks.

Contribution

It provides the first analysis of epidemic dynamics on rewiring scale-free networks, showing how rewiring impacts epidemic thresholds and prevalence.

Findings

Rewiring tends to suppress epidemic spreading.

Thresholds are higher in rewiring networks for certain degree exponents.

Prevalence is lower in rewiring networks at small infection rates.

Abstract

A model for epidemic spreading on rewiring networks is introduced and analyzed for the case of scale free steady state networks. It is found that contrary to what one would have naively expected, the rewiring process typically tends to suppress epidemic spreading. In particular it is found that as in static networks, rewiring networks with degree distribution exponent $\gamma >3$ exhibit a threshold in the infection rate below which epidemics die out in the steady state. However the threshold is higher in the rewiring case. For $2<\gamma \leq 3$ no such threshold exists, but for small infection rate the steady state density of infected nodes (prevalence) is smaller for rewiring networks.