title: Synergy in spreading processes: from exploitative to explorative foraging strategies.
abstract: An epidemiological model which incorporates synergistic effects that allow the infectivity and/or susceptibility of hosts to be dependent on the number of infected neighbors is proposed. Constructive synergy induces an exploitative behavior which results in a rapid invasion that infects a large number of hosts. Interfering synergy leads to a slower and sparser explorative foraging strategy that traverses larger distances by infecting fewer hosts. The model can be mapped to a dynamical bond percolation with spatial correlations that affect the mechanism of spread but do not influence the critical behavior of epidemics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom. p.perezreche@abertay.ac.uk
authors.forename: Francisco J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Pérez-Reche
authors.forename: Jonathan J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Ludlam
authors.forename: Sergei N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Taraskin
authors.forename: Christopher A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Gilligan
mesh_terms: D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission*; D058872:Epidemics; D008962:Models, Theoretical