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One pathogen does not an epidemic make: A review of interacting contagions, diseases, beliefs, and stories

L. Hébert-Dufresne, Y.-Y. Ahn, A. Allard, J. W. Crothers, P. S. Dodds, M. Galesic, F. Ghanbarnejad, D. Gravel, R. A. Hammond, K. Lerman, J. Lovato, J. J. Openshaw, S. Redner, S. V. Scarpino, G. St-Onge, T. R. Tangherlini, J.-G. Young

Times cited: 0

Abstract:

From pathogens and computer viruses to genes and memes, contagion models have found widespread utility across the natural and social sciences. Despite their success and breadth of adoption, the approach and structure of these models remain surprisingly siloed by field. Given the siloed nature of their development and widespread use, one persistent assumption is that a given contagion can be studied in isolation, independently from what else might be spreading in the population. In reality, countless contagions of biological and social nature interact within hosts (interacting with existing beliefs, or the immune system) and across hosts (interacting in the environment, or affecting transmission mechanisms). Additionally, from a modeling perspective, we know that relaxing these assumptions has profound effects on the physics and translational implications of the models. Here, we review mechanisms for interactions in social and biological contagions, as well as the models and frameworks developed to include these interactions in the study of the contagions. We highlight existing problems related to the inference of interactions and to the scalability of mathematical models and identify promising avenues of future inquiries. In doing so, we highlight the need for interdisciplinary efforts under a unified science of contagions and for removing a common dichotomy between social and biological contagions.
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BibTeX:

@misc{hebert-dufresne2025a,
  title =	 {One pathogen does not an epidemic make: {A} review of
                  interacting contagions, diseases, beliefs, and
                  stories},
  author =	 {Laurent Hébert-Dufresne and Yong-Yeol Ahn and
                  Antoine Allard and Jessica W. Crothers and Peter
                  Sheridan Dodds and Mirta Galesic and Fakhteh
                  Ghanbarnejad and Dominique Gravel and Ross A.
                  Hammond and Kristina Lerman and Juniper Lovato and
                  John J. Openshaw and S. Redner and Samuel V.
                  Scarpino and Guillaume St-Onge and Timothy R.
                  Tangherlini and Jean-Gabriel Young},
  year =	 {2025},
  eprint =	 {2504.15053},
  archivePrefix ={arXiv},
  primaryClass = {physics.soc-ph},
  url =		 {https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.15053},
}
 
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