Competing spreading processes and immunization in multiplex networks

TL;DR

This paper models the competing spread of epidemic and awareness in multiplex networks, revealing how awareness diffusion and immunization strategies influence epidemic thresholds and outbreak sizes.

Contribution

It introduces a microscopic Markov chain approach to analyze the interplay of epidemic and awareness spreading in multiplex networks, highlighting the impact of awareness diffusion and immunization strategies.

Findings

Strong awareness diffusion increases epidemic threshold.

Self-awareness has little effect on epidemic dynamics.

Targeted immunization outperforms random immunization.

Abstract

Epidemic spreading on physical contact network will naturally introduce the human awareness information diffusion on virtual contact network, and the awareness diffusion will in turn depress the epidemic spreading, thus forming the competing spreading processes of epidemic and awareness in a multiplex networks. In this paper, we study the competing dynamics of epidemic and awareness, both of which follow the SIR process, in a two-layer networks based on microscopic Markov chain approach and numerical simulations. We find that strong capacities of awareness diffusion and self-protection of individuals could lead to a much higher epidemic threshold and a smaller outbreak size. However, the self-awareness of individuals has no obvious effect on the epidemic threshold and outbreak size. In addition, the immunization of the physical contact network under the interplay between of epidemic and awareness spreading is also investigated. The targeted immunization is found performs much better than random immunization, and the awareness diffusion could reduce the immunization threshold for both type of random and targeted immunization significantly.