  We consider a model for an epidemic in a population that occupies
geographically distinct locations. The disease is spread within subpopulations
by contacts between infective and susceptible individuals, and is spread
between subpopulations by the migration of infected individuals. We show how
susceptible individuals can act collectively to limit the spread of disease
during the initial phase of an epidemic, by specifying the distribution that
minimises the growth rate of the epidemic when the infectives are migrating so
as to maximise the growth rate. We also give an explicit strategy that
minimises the basic reproduction number, which is also shown be optimal in
terms of the probability of extinction and total size of the epidemic.

Probability;Populations and Evolution