Title: Extremely small energy requirement by poliovirus to proliferate itself is the key to an outbreak of an epidemic

Authors: Sevgi Eylül Ferahcan; Ayşe Selcen Semerciöz; Mustafa Özilgen

Addresses: Department of Food Engineering, Yeditepe University, 34755, Istanbul, Turkey ' Department of Food Engineering, Yeditepe University, 34755, Istanbul, Turkey ' Department of Food Engineering, Yeditepe University, 34755, Istanbul, Turkey

Abstract: Poliovirus is an RNA virus which proliferate itself in the intestines. Thermodynamic assessment of the proliferation process has been assessed after calculating the energy and exergy of the RNA with the group contribution method. Mass, energy and exergy balances are performed to calculate the energy and exergy exploited from the host cell as 4.65 × 10⁻¹⁹ and 3.35 × 10⁻¹⁷ kJ, respectively. In a typical epidemic in 1988, 350,000 cases were reported, implying that the total of 1.627 × 10⁻⁹ kJ of energy 1.174 × 10⁻⁷ kJ of exergy was exploited from them during the epidemic. Although the energy and exergy efficiency of virus generation in a host cell were very small, e.g., 1.376 × 10⁻⁶ and 9.78 × 10⁻⁵, respectively; energy and exergy employed in this process was very small implying that extremely small energy and exergy requirement by poliovirus to proliferate itself is the key to an outbreak of an epidemic.

Keywords: virus; epidemic; energy; exergy; host cell rupture.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEX.2019.097269

International Journal of Exergy, 2019 Vol.28 No.1, pp.1 - 28

Received: 23 Jun 2018
Accepted: 07 Sep 2018
Published online: 07 Jan 2019 *

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