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Modeling the Chronification Tendency of Liver Infections as Evolutionary Advantage

  • Special Issue: Modelling Biological Evolution: Developing Novel Approaches
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Abstract

Here, we discuss how the tendency of a liver infection to chronify can be seen as an evolutionary advantage for infected individuals. For this purpose, we present a set of reaction–diffusion equations as a mathematical model of viral liver infections, which allows chronic and acute courses of the liver infection. We introduce a cumulative wealth function, and finally, we show that an immune response favoring the chronification is evolutionary advantageous at the same time.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Computational Mathematics, AG PDE, TU Braunschweig, Universitätsplatz 2, 38106, Braunschweig, Germany

    Cordula Reisch & Dirk Langemann

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  1. Cordula Reisch
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  2. Dirk Langemann
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Correspondence to Cordula Reisch.

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Reisch, C., Langemann, D. Modeling the Chronification Tendency of Liver Infections as Evolutionary Advantage. Bull Math Biol 81, 4743–4760 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11538-019-00596-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11538-019-00596-y

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