Bursting endemic bubbles in an adaptive network

TL;DR

This paper introduces a simple SIS epidemic model on an adaptive network with time-delayed rewiring, demonstrating that endemic bubbles with oscillations occur over a broad parameter space, unlike previous narrow-region findings.

Contribution

The study presents a new SIS model with time-delayed rewiring that reveals endemic bubbles, expanding understanding of oscillatory behavior in adaptive epidemic networks.

Findings

Oscillations occur over a wide parameter space.

Endemic bubbles are identified as enclosed regions of oscillations.

Time-delayed rewiring influences epidemic dynamics significantly.

Abstract

The spread of an infectious disease is known to change people's behavior, which in turn affects the spread of disease. Adaptive network models that account for both epidemic and behavior change have found oscillations, but in an extremely narrow region of the parameter space, which contrasts with intuition and available data. In this paper we propose a simple SIS epidemic model on an adaptive network with time-delayed rewiring, and show that oscillatory solutions are now present in a wide region of the parameter space. Altering the transmission or rewiring rates reveals the presence of an endemic bubble - an enclosed region of the parameter space where oscillations are observed.