Abstract: In this paper we present a model with spatial heterogeneity based on cellular automata (CA). In the model we consider the relevant heterogeneity of host (susceptible) mixing and the natural birth rate. We divide the susceptible population into three groups according to the immunity of each individual based on the classical susceptible--infected--removed (SIR) epidemic models, and consider the spread of an infectious disease transmitted by direct contact among humans and vectors that have not an incubation period to become infectious. We test the local stability and instability of the disease-free equilibrium by the spectrum radii of Jacobian. The simulation shows that the structure of the nearest neighbour size of the cell (or the degree of the scale-free networks) plays a very important role in the spread properties of infectious disease. The positive equilibrium of the infections versus the neighbour size follows the third power law if an endemic equilibrium point exists. Finally, we analyse the feature of the infection waves for the homogeneity and heterogeneous cases respectively.

Key words: cellular automata, epidemic spreading, SIR model, spatial heterogeneity, model evolution