Thermal effects on SARS-CoV-2 transmission in peristaltic blood flow: Mathematical modeling

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 is a novel viral species that has been identified as a highly infectious disease. Scientists have endeavored to collect essential information to better characterize the behavior of this virus, including droplet transmission and airborne effects. However, it is not clear, thus far, whether temperature can substantially alter the pandemic trajectory. This present study, therefore, aims to investigate how temperature may affect virus transmission in peristaltic blood vessels and, furthermore, how virus density and particle diameter will affect the transmission of the virus from an infected person to a non-infected person. The modeling deployed assumes that coronavirus particles with a diameter of 120 μm and a density of 1 g/cm3 move in the direction of blood flow. The quantity of SARS-CoV-2 virions (entire virus particles) inside a microdroplet is calculated by considering the Kepler conjecture method, and the transmission percentage of the viral load is also computed. It is observed that the microdroplet carries a smaller amount of coronavirus particles, so an airborne (DP<2 μm) infection is less harmful. Furthermore, computational simulations using the proposed model reveal some interesting insight into how rapidly the SARS-CoV-2 virus propagates in the circulatory system, and estimate the infection in blood and tissues. From these results, it is found that the small virion (dp<100 nm) rapidly settles inside the bloodstream and infects tissues; however, the duration of infection is short due to the low viscosity of the blood. Furthermore, the closed packed structure of the virions is loosened in the blood vessel due to the temperature of the blood.