MATHEMATICAL MODELS OF HEALTHY CELLS AND INFLUENZA A VIRUS INTERACTIONS IN HUMANS

• Main Author: Cecilia, Livita
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/57734
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Influenza is an infectious disease that targets the respiratory tract and has been around for a long time. This disease is caused by virus of the same name, influenza virus. Influenza viruses have the ability to evolve very quickly hence they are still circulating and able to infect humans until this day, and can even cause pandemics. In this study, we will see the interactions between healthy cells in humans with influenza A virus using mathematical modelling. Then, we will also see the effects of innate immune response towards the virus dynamics in humans. The data used was retrieved from a previous research and experiment to create an attenuated virus. Interactions between healthy cells and viruses caused these cells to be infected and able to produce new viruses in the body. To study the virus dynamics, two models were initially built. The first model was simple and only focused on the limiting target cell population, while the second model included the eclipse phase in viral replication. Based on the numerical results, the viral titer initially rose, then decreased. This might be a result of the limiting target cell population. The second model gave closer fitting towards the real data because this model represented a more accurate event. Then, a third model was built to study the effects of immune response. Immune response slowed down the period for all the target cells to be infected as well as lowered down the viral titer peaks.