Measles-induced immune amnesia and its effects in concurrent epidemics

Abstract

It has been recently discovered that the measles virus can wipe out the adaptive immune system, destroying B lymphocytes and reducing the diversity of non-specific B cells of the infected host. In particular, this implies that previously acquired immunization from vaccination or direct exposition to other pathogens could be erased in a phenomenon named "immune amnesia", whose effects can become particularly worrisome given the actual rise of anti-vaccination movements. Here we present the first attempt to incorporate immune amnesia into standard models of epidemic spreading. In particular, we analyze diverse variants of a model that describes the spreading of two concurrent pathogens causing measles and another generic disease: the SIR-IA model. Analytical and computational studies confirm that immune amnesia can indeed have important consequences for epidemic spreading, significantly altering the vaccination coverage required to reach herd-immunity for concurring infectious diseases. More specifically, we uncover the existence of novel propagating and endemic phases which are induced by immune amnesia, that appear both in fully-connected and more structured networks, such as random networks and power-law degree-distributed ones. In particular, the transitions from a quiescent state into these novel phases can become rather abrupt in some cases that we specifically analyze. Furthermore, we discuss the meaning and consequences of our results and their relation with, e.g., immunization strategies, together with the possibility that explosive types of transitions may emerge, making immune-amnesia effects particularly dramatic. This work opens the door to further developments and analyses of immune amnesia effects, contributing, more generally, to the theory of interacting epidemics on complex networks.

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