The Influence of Risk Perception in Epidemics: A Cellular Agent Model

Our work stems from the consideration that the spreading of a disease is modulated by the individual’s perception of the infected neighborhood and his/her strategy to avoid being infected as well. We introduced a general “cellular agent” model that accounts for a heterogeneous and variable network of connections. The probability of infection is assumed to depend on the perception that an individual has about the spreading of the disease in her local neighborhood and on broadcasting media. In the one-dimensional homogeneous case the model reduces to the DK one, while for long-range coupling the dynamics exhibits large fluctuations that may lead to the complete extinction of the disease.