HBE1 and chronic hepatitis: The strain developed an additional precore stop-codon mutation under the pressure of interferon [39], (4) HBe negative mutants mostly appeared in patients with chronic hepatitis during spontaneous or alpha-interferon induced seroconversion from HBeAg-positive to anti-HBe-positive and (5) these variants could be associated with anti-HBe positive hepatitis [40],[41].