The talk of the town: Modelling the spread of information and changes in behaviour

Abstract

Changes in host behaviour can influence the course of a disease outbreak. These changes can be triggered not only by public campaigns and mass media reporting, but also by person-to-person communication and influence from peers. Here, we describe a model in which awareness of the presence of a disease can spread in a population and influence the spread of the disease itself through protective measures that people can take. We describe the dynamics of disease spread, focusing, in particular, on the relation between awareness and proximity of disease in the network.