Impact of media coverage on epidemic spreading in complex networks

An SIS network model incorporating the influence of media coverage on transmission rate is formulated and analyzed. We calculate the basic reproduction number R-0 by utilizing the local stability of the disease-free equilibrium. Our results show that the disease-free equilibrium is globally asymptotically stable and that the disease dies out if R-0 is below 1; otherwise, the disease will persist and converge to a unique positive stationary state. This result may suggest effective control strategies to prevent disease through media coverage and education activities in finite-size scale-free networks. Numerical simulations are also performed to illustrate our results and to give more insights into the dynamical process. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.