Some aspects of the Markovian SIRS epidemic on networks and its mean-field approximation

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the spread of SIRS epidemics on networks, deriving conditions for rapid extinction, and explores mean-field approximations and stability properties, especially on regular graphs.

Contribution

It introduces a mean-field approximation using equitable partitions and provides stability analysis for endemic states on specific network topologies.

Findings

Sufficient condition for fast epidemic extinction.

Mean-field model stability depends on network structure.

Endemic equilibrium can be computed via reduced dynamical systems.

Abstract

We study the spread of an SIRS-type epidemic with vaccination on network. Starting from an exact Markov description of the model, we investigate the mean epidemic lifetime by providing a sufficient condition for fast extinction that depends on the model parameters and the topology of the network. Then, we pass to consider a firstorder mean-field approximation of the exact model and its stability properties, by relying on the graph-theoretical notion of equitable partition. In the case of graphs possessing this kind of partition, we prove that the endemic equilibrium can be computed by using a lower-dimensional dynamical system. Finally, in the special case of regular graphs, we investigate the domain of attraction of the endemic equilibrium.