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Repulsion effect on superinfecting virions by infected cells
1Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 5B7, Canada.
Bulletin of Mathematical Biology
|October 2, 2014
Summary
Infected cells repel superinfecting viruses, accelerating virus spread. This repulsion effect, modeled by reaction-diffusion equations, enhances viral dissemination beyond random diffusion, confirming experimental findings.
Area of Science:
- Mathematical Biology
- Virology
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Understanding virus infection dynamics is crucial for controlling outbreaks.
- Cellular interactions, like repulsion, can significantly influence pathogen spread.
- Existing models often simplify virus diffusion mechanisms.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of infected cell repulsion on superinfecting virions.
- To develop a reaction-diffusion model incorporating cell-virus repulsion.
- To analyze the resulting virus spread dynamics and compare with experimental data.
Main Methods:
- Formulation of a reaction-diffusion equation model for virus infection.
- Analysis of basic reproduction number and steady-state stability.
- Investigation of traveling wave solutions and spreading speeds.
- Numerical computations to validate model predictions.
Main Results:
- The model demonstrates that infected cells repelling superinfecting virions increases virus spread speed.
- Virus spread is faster with repulsion than with random diffusion alone.
- The spreading speed of free virus deviates from the minimal traveling wave speed.
- Numerical results quantitatively confirm experimental observations.
Conclusions:
- Infected cell repulsion is a significant factor promoting rapid virus dissemination.
- The developed model accurately captures the influence of this repulsion effect.
- This finding has implications for understanding and managing viral infection spread.
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