Modeling of Viral Infection with Inflammation

Abstract

Viral infection spreads in cell culture or tissue as a reaction–diffusion wave. It is characterized by three main parameters: virus replication number, Rv, which determines whether infection progresses, wave speed, c, which correlates with the virus virulence, and viral load, J(v), which determines the infection transmission rate. In this work, we study how the inflammation triggered by viral infection influences its progression. We obtain analytical expressions for Rv,c, and J(v) and show how they depend on the intensity of inflammation characterized by one or two parameters. Analytical and numerical results show that inflammation decreases the viral replication number, virus virulence, and infectivity, though there are different cases depending on the parameters of the model.