title: Nature of the epidemic threshold for the susceptible-infected-susceptible dynamics in networks.
abstract: We develop an analytical approach to the susceptible-infected-susceptible epidemic model that allows us to unravel the true origin of the absence of an epidemic threshold in heterogeneous networks. We find that a delicate balance between the number of high degree nodes in the network and the topological distance between them dictates the existence or absence of such a threshold. In particular, small-world random networks with a degree distribution decaying slower than an exponential have a vanishing epidemic threshold in the thermodynamic limit.
authors: Departament de Física Fonamental, Universitat de Barcelona, Martí i Franquès 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
authors: Marian
authors: M
authors: Boguñá
authors: Claudio
authors: C
authors: Castellano
authors: Romualdo
authors: R
authors: Pastor-Satorras
mesh_terms: D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D058872:Epidemics; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D007239:Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008962:Models, Theoretical