Coexistence and non-coexistence of Markovian viruses and their hosts

TL;DR

This paper investigates conditions under which a virus and healthy cells can coexist or not in a population, providing precise criteria based on a mathematical model of infection spread.

Contribution

It introduces a model analyzing coexistence of viruses and host cells, offering new criteria for coexistence or non-coexistence based on model parameters.

Findings

Coexistence depends on specific parameter thresholds.

Precise mathematical criteria for coexistence are established.

The model clarifies conditions leading to virus extinction or persistence.

Abstract

The possibility of coexistence of two competing populations is a classical question which dates back to the earliest `predator-prey' models. In this paper we study this question in the context of a model for the spread of a virus infection in a population of healthy cells. The infected cells may be seen as a population of `predators' and the healthy cells as a population of `prey'. We show that, depending on the parameters defining the model, there may or may not be coexistence of the two populations, and we give precise criteria for this.