Dynamics of the evolution of HIV infection

GUILLERMO SOLOVEY; FERNANDO PERUANI; SILVINA PONCE DAWSON; RITA MARIA ZORZENON DOS SANTOS

Colonia

Congreso; XIII Reunión de Mecánica Estadística de No-equilibrio y Física no lineal; 2002

The evolution of HIV infection on patients possesses two remarkably different time scales: (a) primary infection (from days to weeks) and (b) latency period and the onset of AIDS (2-10 years or more). Recently, Rita Zorzenon dos Santos and Sérgio Coutinho have presented a cellular automata model for the evolution of HIV infection and the onset of AIDS. It takes into account the fundamental features of the immune response against any pathogen, the high mutation rate of HIV and the spatial localization of cells, which may occur in the lymph nodes. The model describes qualitatively the evolution of HIV on infected patients. The latency period corresponds in the model to a transient in which infected cells agglomerate forming spatial structures that slowly cover the lattice. The rules of the automata dictate the dynamics leading to the formation of spatial patterns. In this work we identify the rule of the automata that is responsible for the appearance of the structures and we introduce a probability of infection that was not considered on the original model. Finally, we seek to relate the complete evolution of the system with the cellular automata rules.