Epidemic spreading over quenched networks with local behavioral response

Abstract We discuss the impact of local information-based behavioral response on epidemic spreading in social networks. By using a pair quenched mean-field approach developed by Mata and Ferreira [Europhys. Lett. 103 (2013) 48003], we derive a dynamical model governing the epidemic spreading over a random network with a linear response function and density-dependent epidemic information. A deterministic relation between the epidemic threshold and the response parameter is derived according to a quasi-static approximation method. It is found that local behavioral response will induce the extinction of the disease via rasing the epidemic threshold. Additionally, the theoretical result is supported by stochastic simulations on an Erd o ¨ s–Renyi random network and a Barab a ´ si–Albert scale-free network. Simulations show that the pair quenched mean-field approach is more accurate than the classical quenched mean-field approach.