  The interplay between traffic dynamics and epidemic spreading on complex
networks has received increasing attention in recent years. However, the
control of traffic-driven epidemic spreading remains to be a challenging
problem. In this Brief Report, we propose a method to suppress traffic-driven
epidemic outbreak by properly removing some edges in a network. We find that
the epidemic threshold can be enhanced by the targeted cutting of links among
large-degree nodes or edges with the largest algorithmic betweeness. In
contrast, the epidemic threshold will be reduced by the random edge removal.
These findings are robust with respect to traffic-flow conditions, network
structures and routing strategies. Moreover, we find that the shutdown of
targeted edges can effectively release traffic load passing through
large-degree nodes, rendering a relatively low probability of infection to
these nodes.
