Effect of the disorder heterogeneity on the disease spreading

CAMILA BUONO; FEDERICO VAZQUEZ; P. A. MACRI; L. A. BRAUNSTEIN

Trieste (ICTP)

Otro; Workshop on Physical Virology; 2012

We explore how heterogeneity in the intensity of interactions between people affects epidemic spreading. For that, we study the susceptible-infected-susceptible model on a complex network,where a link connecting individuals i and j is endowed with an infection rate βij = λwij proportional to the intensity of their contact wij , with a distribution P (wij ). We find a rare region effects with a slow approach to extinction. This effects are caused by isolated small groups of highly interacting individuals, which keep epidemic alive for very long times. A mean-field approximation and a percolation approach capture with very good accuracy the transition from weak to strong disorder.