Coupled awareness-epidemic dynamics in a two-layer network with community structure

In this paper, a two-layer network model featuring inherent community structures is introduced to examine the interplay between awareness transmission and epidemic spreading. The model incorporates an unaware-aware-unaware (UAU) framework within the informational upper layer, shaped by community structures, and a susceptible-infected-susceptible (SIS) paradigm within the epidemic lower layer. The role of individual self-awareness is also considered, with the hypothesis that individuals spontaneously become aware of the disease when the local awareness rate in their vicinity exceeds a predetermined threshold. The epidemic threshold is delineated through the application of the microscopic Markov chain approach (MMCA). Findings indicate that the individual self-awareness mechanism impacts epidemic thresholds in a dual-phase manner, with distinct high and low threshold stages. It is observed that when the community structure remains static, fluctuations in the transmission probability of awareness — whether intra-community or inter-community — do not significantly influence the threshold or the ultimate scale of the epidemic. Analysis suggests that a denser community structure, along with increased inter-community connectivity, facilitates the spread of awareness and effectively suppresses the propagation of the epidemic.