title: Epidemic spreading in a hierarchical social network.
abstract: A model of epidemic spreading in a population with a hierarchical structure of interpersonal interactions is described and investigated numerically. The structure of interpersonal connections is based on a scale-free network. Spatial localization of individuals belonging to different social groups, and the mobility of a contemporary community, as well as the effectiveness of different interpersonal interactions, are taken into account. Typical relations characterizing the spreading process, like a range of epidemic and epidemic curves, are discussed. The influence of preventive vaccinations on the spreading process is investigated. The critical value of preventively vaccinated individuals that is sufficient for the suppression of an epidemic is calculated. Our results are compared with solutions of the master equation for the spreading process and good agreement of the character of this process is found.
authors.affiliation: Central Institute for Labour Protection-National Research Institute, 00-701 Warsaw, Poland. atomic@olimp.if.pw.edu.pl
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grabowski
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Kosiński
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000379:methods; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D006801:Humans; D007114:Immunization / Q000379:methods; D008954:Models, Biological; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012919:Social Behavior; D012944:Social Support