Risk of Coinfection Outbreaks in Temporal Networks: A Case Study of a Hospital Contact Network

• Main Authors: Jorge P. Rodríguez, Fakhteh Ghanbarnejad, Víctor M. Eguíluz
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2017-10-01
• Series: Frontiers in Physics
• Subjects: co-infection; hospital contact networks; temporal networks; endemic bistability; temporal correlations; influenza
• Online Access: http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphy.2017.00046/full

We study the spreading of cooperative infections in an empirical temporal network of contacts between people, including health care workers and patients, in a hospital. The system exhibits a phase transition leading to one or several endemic branches, depending on the connectivity pattern and the temporal correlations. There are two endemic branches in the original setting and the non-cooperative case. However, the cooperative interaction between infections reinforces the upper branch, leading to a smaller epidemic threshold and a higher probability for having a big outbreak. We show the microscopic mechanisms leading to these differences, characterize three different risks, and use the influenza features as an example for this dynamics.