In this paper, an SIR epidemic model for the spread of an infectious disease transmitted by direct contact among humans and vectors (mosquitoes) which have an incubation time to become infectious is formulated. It is shown that a disease-free equilibrium point is globally stable if no endemic equilibrium point exists. Further, the endemic equilibrium point (if it exists) is globally stable with respect to a ''weak delay''. Some known results are generalized.
Citation: Zhen Jin, Zhien Ma. The stability of an SIR epidemic model with time delays[J]. Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering, 2006, 3(1): 101-109. doi: 10.3934/mbe.2006.3.101
Abstract
In this paper, an SIR epidemic model for the spread of an infectious disease transmitted by direct contact among humans and vectors (mosquitoes) which have an incubation time to become infectious is formulated. It is shown that a disease-free equilibrium point is globally stable if no endemic equilibrium point exists. Further, the endemic equilibrium point (if it exists) is globally stable with respect to a ''weak delay''. Some known results are generalized.