Epidemic Spreading on Weighted Co-Evolving Multiplex Networks

Abstract

The individual behaviors driven by information diffusion show an undeniable impact on the process of epidemic spreading and have been continuously evolving with the dynamic processes. In this paper, a novel weighted co-evolving multiplex network model is proposed to describe the interaction between information diffusion in online social networks and epidemic spreading in adaptive physical contact networks. Considering the difference in the connections between individuals, the heterogeneous rewiring rate, which is proportional to the strength of the connection, is introduced in our model. The simulation results show that the maximum infection scale decreases as the information acceptance probability grows, and the final infection decreases as the rewiring behaviors increase. Interestingly, an infection peak appears in our model due to the interaction between information diffusion and epidemic spread.