Hopf bifurcation of a delay SIRS epidemic model with novel nonlinear incidence: Application to scarlet fever

An SIRS epidemic model incorporating incubation time delay and novel nonlinear incidence is proposed and analyzed to seek for the control strategies of scarlet fever, where the contact rate which can reflect the regular behavior and habit changes of children is non-monotonic with respect to the number of susceptible. The model without delay may exhibit backward bifurcation and bistable states even though the basic reproduction number is less than unit. Furthermore, we derive the conditions for occurrence of Hopf bifurcation when the time delay is considered as a bifurcation parameter. The data of scarlet fever of China are simulated to verify our theoretical results. In the end, several effective preventive and intervention measures of scarlet fever are found out.