FIG 2.
Dynamics of the immunophage therapy model against two different bacterial inocula. We simulate the phage therapy model developed in reference 16 against two infection settings. In the first infection setting (a), a phage-sensitive bacterial inoculum, BP (orange solid line), is challenged with phage (blue dashed line) inside an immunocompetent host. In the second scenario (b), antibiotic-sensitive bacteria, BA (green solid line), are challenged with phage in the presence of an active immune response (purple dashed line). The initial bacterial density and the initial phage density are B0 = 7.4 × 107 CFU/g and P0 = 7.4 × 108 PFU/g, respectively. For the simulation, we use a heterogeneous mixing model as a functional form of phage infection. The growth rates of BP and BA are rP = 0.75 h−1 and rA = 0.67 h−1, respectively. Simulation run is 96 h with phage being administered 2 h after the infection. The bacterial carrying capacity is KC = 1010 CFU/g.