SOME THRESHOLD AND STABILITY RESULTS FOR EPIDEMIC MODELS WITH A DENSITY-DEPENDENT DEATH RATE

Most classical models for infectious diseases assume that the birth and death rates of individuals and the meeting rates between susceptible and infected individuals do not depend on the total number of individuals in the population. While these assumptions are valid in some situations they are less valid in others. For example, for diseases in animal an insects populations competition for scarce resources might well mean that the death rate depends on the number of individuals. The present paper examines two epidemic models where the death rate is density dependent. For each model the possible equilibrium levels of disease incidence are determined and the stability of these equilibrium levels to small perturbations is discussed. The biological interpretation of these results is presented together with the results of some numerical simulations. © 1992.