Influence of Intracellular Delay on the Dynamics of Hepatitis C Virus

Abstract

In this paper we present a delay induced model for hepatitis C virus incorporating the healthy and infected hepatocytes as well as infectious and noninfectious virions. The model is mathematically analyzed and characterized, both for the steady states and the dynamical behavior of the model. It is shown that time delay does not affect the local asymptotic stability of the uninfected steady state. However, it can destabilize the endemic equilibrium, leading to Hopf bifurcation to periodic solutions with realistic data sets. The model is also validated using 12 patient data obtained from the study, conducted at the University of Sao Paulo Hospital das clinicas.