  The spread of certain diseases can be promoted, in some cases substantially,
by prior infection with another disease. One example is that of HIV, whose
immunosuppressant effects significantly increase the chances of infection with
other pathogens. Such coinfection processes, when combined with nontrivial
structure in the contact networks over which diseases spread, can lead to
complex patterns of epidemiological behavior. Here we consider a mathematical
model of two diseases spreading through a single population, where infection
with one disease is dependent on prior infection with the other. We solve
exactly for the sizes of the outbreaks of both diseases in the limit of large
population size, along with the complete phase diagram of the system. Among
other things, we use our model to demonstrate how diseases can be controlled
not only by reducing the rate of their spread, but also by reducing the spread
of other infections upon which they depend.
