Epidemic outbreaks in complex heterogeneous networks
We present a detailed analytical and numerical study for the spreading of infections with acquired immunity in complex population networks. We show that the large connectivity fluctuations usually found in these networks strengthen considerably the incidence of epidemic outbreaks. Scale-free network...
| Autores: | , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2002 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) |
| Repositorio: | UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/126040 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/2117/126040 https://dx.doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e20020122 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Epidemics Epidemic outbreaks Complex heterogeneous networks Epidèmies Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Física |
| Sumario: | We present a detailed analytical and numerical study for the spreading of infections with acquired immunity in complex population networks. We show that the large connectivity fluctuations usually found in these networks strengthen considerably the incidence of epidemic outbreaks. Scale-free networks, which are characterized by diverging connectivity fluctuations in the limit of a very large number of nodes, exhibit the lack of an epidemic threshold and always show a finite fraction of infected individuals. This particular weakness, observed also in models without immunity, defines a new epidemiological framework characterized by a highly heterogeneous response of the system to the introduction of infected individuals with different connectivity. The understanding of epidemics in complex networks might deliver new insights in the spread of information and diseases in biological and technological networks that often appear to be characterized by complex heterogeneous architectures. |
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