An HBV model with diffusion and time delay

In this paper, a hepatitis B virus (HBV) model with spatial diffusion and saturation response of the infection rate is investigated, in which the intracellular incubation period is modelled by a discrete time delay. By analyzing the corresponding characteristic equations, the local stability of an infected steady state and an uninfected steady state is discussed. By comparison arguments, it is proved that if the basic reproductive number is less than unity, the uninfected steady state is globally asymptotically stable. If the basic reproductive number is greater than unity, by successively modifying the coupled lower–upper solution pairs, sufficient conditions are obtained for the global stability of the infected steady state. Numerical simulations are carried out to illustrate the main results.