On the stochastic SIS epidemic model in a periodic environment

In the stochastic SIS epidemic model with a contact rate a, a recovery rate b < a, and a population size N, the mean extinction time τ is such that (log τ)/N converges to c = b/a - 1 - log(b/a) as N grows to infinity. This article considers the more realistic case where the contact rate a(t) is a periodic function whose average is bigger than b. Then log τ/N converges to a new limit C, which is linked to a time-periodic Hamilton-Jacobi equation. When a(t) is a cosine function with small amplitude or high (resp. low) frequency, approximate formulas for C can be obtained analytically following the method used in Assaf et al. (Phys Rev E 78:041123, 2008). These results are illustrated by numerical simulations.