Abstract
This paper is concerned with the dynamics of a viral infection model with diffusion under the assumption that the immune response is retarded. A time delay is incorporated into the model described the delayed immune response after viral infection. Based upon a stability analysis, we demonstrate that the appearance, or the absence, of spatial patterns is determined by the delay under some conditions. Moreover, the spatial patterns occurs as a consequence of Hopf bifurcation. By applying the normal form and the center manifold theory, the direction as well as the stability of the Hopf bifurcation is explored. In addition, a series of numerical simulations are performed to illustrate our theoretical results.