DMS Applied Mathematics Seminar

Title: Periodic phenomena and driving mechanisms in the transmission of West Nile virus

Abstract: West Nile virus is a type of mosquito-borne disease which can cause severe illness in humans. Mosquitoes play a critical role in the transmission and spread of the diseases. We propose a system of equations to model the transmission of West Nile virus between mosquitoes and avian hosts. The system compromises five equations in which maturation delay in mosquitoes is incorporated. Analytical analysis shows that mosquitoes can force the system to oscillate under the impact of maturation delay while the species interaction enhances the oscillation. Our analysis indicates the existence of global Hopf bifurcation, period doubling bifurcation, and fold bifurcation of period solutions, as well as the existence of a bi-stability in the form of a boundary periodic solution and a positive periodic solution.

This is a collaborated work with Prof. Chunhua Shan (The University of Toledo) and Prof. Huaiping Zhu (York University).