According to WHO, in 2015 approximately 71 million people suffered from a chronic infection with hepatitis C virus, while more than 1.2 million people were living with chronic infection with hepatitis B virus. Also in 2015, 399,000 deaths were attributed to hepatitis C and 887,000 deaths were attributed to hepatitis B – mainly due to hepatic cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (i.e. primary liver cancer).3