Stability analysis of a multigroup epidemic model with general exposed distribution and nonlinear incidence rates

Abstract

We investigate a class of multigroup epidemic models with general exposed distribution and nonlinear incidence rates. For a simpler case that assumes an identical natural death rate for all groups, and with a gamma distribution for exposed distribution is considered. Some sufficient conditions are obtained to ensure that the global dynamics are completely determined by the basic production number R0. The proofs of the main results exploit the method of constructing Lyapunov functionals and a graph-theoretical technique in estimating the derivatives of Lyapunov functionals. © 2013 Ling Zhang et al.