Pattern Formation in Epidemic Model with Media Coverage

In this article, a spatial epidemic model with media coverage is studied. By both mathematical analysis and numerical simulation, we found that there are some typical dynamics of population density such as the formation of the hole, stripe, spot, coexistence of hole and stripe or spot and stripe. The obtained results exhibit that parameters describing media coverage have a significant influence on the spatial pattern of the disease. More specifically, the sequential change in behaviour of the spatial pattern is observed as the parameter that accounts for media coverage increases. These changes analogous to the effect due to the rise in the basic reproduction number. The results presented in this article thus can be applied to any particular disease with some modification to study the effects of media coverage on disease dynamics. The model is although simple but the idea can be well extended to other complex problems.