Parasite infection in a cell population with deaths and reinfections

TL;DR

This paper models parasite infection dynamics in a cell population considering multiple infection routes and nonlinear parasite growth, analyzing the long-term behavior of the infection.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive model incorporating various infection pathways and nonlinear parasite growth, providing insights into infection persistence and extinction.

Findings

Long-term infection behavior characterized

Impact of infection routes on parasite spread analyzed

Nonlinear parasite growth influences infection dynamics

Abstract

We introduce a model of parasite infection in a cell population, where cells can be infected, either at birth through maternal transmission, from a contact with the parasites reservoir, or because of the parasites released in the cell medium after the lyses of infected cells. Inside the cells and between infection events, the quantity of parasites evolves as a general non linear branching process. We study the long time behaviour of the infection.