Mathematical analysis of a sex-structured HIV/AIDS model with a discrete time delay (Q1026069)

This paper revisits a sex-structured model for heterosexual transmission of HIV/AIDS that has been presented in a previous paper by the same authors. The model consists of a nonlinear differential system with constant delay, including three groups of sex-structured (females and males) state-variables: susceptibles, infectives, that are individuals who are infected but have not developed AIDS symptoms, and AIDS cases. The constant delay is the incubation period for susceptible individuals from the time of being infected to the develop of AIDS symptoms. The work provides an analysis of the stability of the disease-free (\(E_0\)) and endemic (\(E_l\)) equilibria in terms of the values of the reproductive number \(R_0\), which is calculated for the model. As expected, if \(R_0<1\), then \(E_0\) is globally asymptotically stable and it becomes unstable for \(R_0>1\). In this last case, using a Lyapunov functional approach, sufficient technical conditions on the parameters of the model and the delay are established for \(E_l\) being locally asymptotically stable. The paper also provides an analysis of basic but biologically meaningful properties of solutions to the model: positivity, persistence and permanence.