A COMPUTER-SIMULATION STUDY OF CELL-POPULATION IN A FUZZY INTERACTION-MODEL FOR MUTATING HIV

A fuzzy set of 10 interactions for macrophages, helper cells, cytotoxi c cells, and virion is introduced to study their population dynamics i n an immune response relevant to HIV. Viral mutation is considered and cellular automata are used for local interactions. In absence of muta tion, after an initial incubation period (t(i)) in which the number of helper cells (N-H) becomes comparable to viral population (N-V), the immune system recovers as N-H grows larger than N-V in the long time, t>t(i). Increasing the mutation rate (p(mut)) enhances the viral growt h and supresses the growth of host cells. Above a certain value of p(m ut), the helper cells population depletes leading to AIDS as N-V>>N-H. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.