Dynamics and spreading speed of a reaction-diffusion system with advection modeling West Nile virus (Q2208272)

This paper considers a model for the spreading of West Nile virus in the form of a reaction-advection-diffusion system with free boundaries. A one-dimensional domain is considered and the two variables of interest are the densities of infected birds and mosquitoes at position \(x\) and time \(t\). These are assumed to be non-zero only for \(g(t) < x < h(t)\), where these two variables define the extent of the disease spread and are driven by the spatial gradient of the density of infected birds. Birds are assumed to be advected but mosquitoes are not. Transmission to an uninfected mosquito is assumed to occur with some probability when it bites an infected bird, and to an uninfected bird when it is bitten by an infected mosquito. The authors prove existence and uniqueness of the solution of the system studied. They determine conditions under which the disease will spread, or not, and give an estimate for the asymptotic spreading speeds of the leftward and rightward fronts in the case that it does. If the advection is to the right, the asymptotic spreading speed of the leftward front is less than or equal to that of the rightward front. The paper concludes with several simulations.