Dynamical analysis of age-structured pertussis model with covert infection

An age-structured pertussis model with covert infection is proposed to understand the effect of covert infection on the recurrence of pertussis. It is found that vaccination only for young children does not have a decisive effect on whooping cough control. It is shown that although the vaccine coverage rate is relatively high, the model has a backward bifurcation for a larger covert infection rate. In addition, sufficient conditions for the disease-free steady state to be globally asymptotically stable are obtained.