Physics – Condensed Matter – Statistical Mechanics
Scientific paper
2003-03-21
Phys. Rev. E 68, 016114 (2003)
Physics
Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
9 pages, 13 figures
Scientific paper
10.1103/PhysRevE.68.016114
The spreading of infectious diseases with and without immunization of individuals can be modeled by stochastic processes that exhibit a transition between an active phase of epidemic spreading and an absorbing phase, where the disease dies out. In nature, however, the transmitted pathogen may also mutate, weakening the effect of immunization. In order to study the influence of mutations, we introduce a model that mimics epidemic spreading with immunization and mutations. The model exhibits a line of continuous phase transitions and includes the general epidemic process (GEP) and directed percolation (DP) as special cases. Restricting to perfect immunization in two spatial dimensions we analyze the phase diagram and study the scaling behavior along the phase transition line as well as in the vicinity of the GEP point. We show that mutations lead generically to a crossover from the GEP to DP. Using standard scaling arguments we also predict the form of the phase transition line close to the GEP point. It turns out that the protection gained by immunization is vitally decreased by the occurrence of mutations.
Dammer Stephan M.
Hinrichsen Haye
No associations
LandOfFree
Epidemic spreading with immunization and mutations does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Epidemic spreading with immunization and mutations, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Epidemic spreading with immunization and mutations will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-153266