The Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a mostly double-stranded DNA virus in the
Hepadnaviridae family. HBV is a common viral pathogen that causes a substantial
health burden worldwide. Significant progress has been made in the past few decades
in understanding the natural history of HBV infection (Pungpapong et al., 2007).
One of five hepatitis viruses, HBV causes acute and chronic hepatitis in humans.
Despite the current availability of an effective vaccine, almost 1.2 million people