Comment on "Nature of the Epidemic Threshold for the Susceptible-Infected-Susceptible Dynamics in Networks" [arXiv:1305.4819]

Abstract

Recently, Bogu\~{n}\'{a} {\it et. al.} [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 111}, 068701 (2013), arXiv:1305.4819] claimed that the epidemic threshold of the susceptible-infected-susceptible (SIS) model is zero on random scale-free (SF) networks with the small-world (SW) property. They drew the conclusion by taking into account a long-range reinfection mechanism. In this Comment, we will show that such an effect is too weak to guarantee an endemic phase with a {\em finite} fraction of infected nodes. Consequently, the epidemic threshold can be finite in random SF networks.