Analysis of the Evolutionary Forces in an

MATERIALS AND METHODSSubjects. Subjects with chronic HCV infection were recruited from the hepatology outpatient clinics of the University of Bochum and the University of Freiburg. Additional samples were retrieved from the serum bank of the German Hepatitis Network (Kompetenznetz Hepatitis). Subjects were included if they presented with a positive HCV-RNA test in serum and no clinical evidence for acute infection. Only subjects infected with genotypes 1b and 3a were chosen. The study was approved by the local Institutional Review Board, and all subjects gave written informed consent.