The ‘Red Queen’ Dilemma – Running to Stay in the Same Place: Refections on the Evolutionary Vector of HBV in Humans

Abstract

It is suggested that in vivo HBV behaves as a self-normalizing meme and mutational rates, although high, do not lead to significant change over time in a persistent infection. This would be compatible with co-evolution within its human host and introduction within humans being an ancient occurrence.