Nonlinear two-point boundary value problems: applications to a cholera epidemic model

This paper is concerned primarily with constructive mathematical analysis of a general system of nonlinear two-point boundary value problem when an empirically constructed candidate for an approximate solution (quasi-solution) satisfies verifiable conditions. A local analysis in a neighbour- hood of a quasi-solution assures the existence and uniqueness of solutions and, at the same time, provides error bounds for approximate solutions. Applying this method to a cholera epidemic model, we obtain an analytical approximation of the steady-state solution with rigorous error bounds that also displays dependence on a parameter. In connection with this epidemic model, we also analyse the basic reproduction number, an important threshold quantity in the epidemiology context. Through a complex analytic approach, we determine the principal eigenvalue to be real and positive in a range of parameter values.