Vásquez-Quintero, S.A.; Toro-Zapata, H.D.; Prieto-Medellín, D.A. A Multi-Scale Model for the Spread of HIV in a Population Considering the Immune Status of People. Processes2021, 9, 1924.
Vásquez-Quintero, S.A.; Toro-Zapata, H.D.; Prieto-Medellín, D.A. A Multi-Scale Model for the Spread of HIV in a Population Considering the Immune Status of People. Processes 2021, 9, 1924.
Vásquez-Quintero, S.A.; Toro-Zapata, H.D.; Prieto-Medellín, D.A. A Multi-Scale Model for the Spread of HIV in a Population Considering the Immune Status of People. Processes2021, 9, 1924.
Vásquez-Quintero, S.A.; Toro-Zapata, H.D.; Prieto-Medellín, D.A. A Multi-Scale Model for the Spread of HIV in a Population Considering the Immune Status of People. Processes 2021, 9, 1924.
Abstract
A multiscale mathematical model is proposed seeking to study the propagation dynamics of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in a group of young people between 15 and 24 years of age, through sexual contact without protection, considering the use of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and therapeutic failure. The model consists in a scale-free complex network that follows a power law, coupled with the immunological dynamics of each individual, that is, it considers the infection by the virus in the immune system of each HIV carrier, through a system of non-linear differential equations that govern the infection’s behavior in the immune system. Propagation of the virus in the network is modelled by taking into account information from the immunological status of each person. The study found that for a population to have high HIV prevalence, it is not necessary at the beginning of the simulation time for the virus to propagate rapidly. In addition, the study proves that with a higher number of sexual partners, there will be greater prevalence of HIV in the population and that the use of ART helps to control the propagation of the infection in the population. As an interesting result, it was also found that there is a higher number of HIV carriers who abandon ART than those who have access to it.
Keywords
Multi-scale model; system of differential equations; HIV propagation; complex network; basic reproduction number; antiretroviral therapy; prevalence.
Subject
Computer Science and Mathematics, Algebra and Number Theory
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
