The spread of disease through a physical-contact network and the spread ofinformation about the disease on a communication network are two intimatelyrelated dynamical processes. We investigate the asymmetrical interplay betweenthe two types of spreading dynamics, each occurring on its own layer, byfocusing on the two fundamental quantities underlying any spreading process:epidemic threshold and the final infection ratio. We find that an epidemicoutbreak on the contact layer can induce an outbreak on the communicationlayer, and information spreading can effectively raise the epidemic threshold.When structural correlation exists between the two layers, the informationthreshold remains unchanged but the epidemic threshold can be enhanced, makingthe contact layer more resilient to epidemic outbreak. We develop a physicaltheory to understand the intricate interplay between the two types of spreadingdynamics.
展开▼
