Localization and Spreading of Diseases in Complex Networks

Abstract

Using the SIS model on unweighted and weighted networks, we consider the disease localizationphenomenon. In contrast to the well-recognized point of view that diseases infect a finite fractionof vertices right above the epidemic threshold, we show that diseases can be localized on a finitenumber of vertices, where hubs and edges with large weights are centers of localization. Our resultsfollow from the analysis of standard models of networks and empirical data for real-world networks.