If the African virus hadn’t contaminated drug users in Liège, what about the hypotheses that attributed the propagation of hepatitis C on the American continent to slaves who had come from Africa between the 17th and 19th centuries? “It is quite traditional to believe that the infections come from Africa; the majority of these stories are completely false! As regards virus 4, the virus mainly responsible for the contaminations in central Africa, it is likely that epidemic transmission is quite recent (end of 19th century). Indeed, had the contamination been older, it is likely that the Afro-Americans, who initially came from the same regions of central Africa, would have been in contact with this virus. And yet, the Afro-Americans infected by virus C are not infected by virus 4, but by virus 1a (a recent epidemic transmission linked to drug abuse). The contamination in central Africa therefore postdates 1865, the date of the abolition of slavery in the Americas. On the other hand, a major contamination site of virus 4 is the Arab world. And we often forget that much of the slave trade was transferred to Middle-Eastern countries. And as genotype 4 is dominant in the Arab world, it is easy to imagine that it was through this historical detour that the Africans of central African origin were contaminated.”