Dynamics of spreading and immune strategies of sexually transmitted diseases on scale-free network

Abstract

We examine epidemic threshold and dynamics for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) spread using a multiple susceptible-infected–removed-susceptible ODE model on scale-free networks. We derive the threshold for the epidemic to be zero in infinite scale-free network. For a hard cut off scale-free network, we also prove the stability of disease-free equilibrium and the persistence of STDs infection. The effects of two immunization schemes, including proportional scheme and targeted vaccination, are studied and compared. We find that targeted strategy compare favorably to a proportional scheme in terms of effectiveness. Theory and simulations both prove that an appropriate condom using has prominent effect to control STDs spread on scale-free networks.