About the Authors

Jacques Cornuz

Jacques.Cornuz@chuv.ch

Affiliations Department of Internal Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland, Department of Ambulatory Care and Community Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland

Susanne Zwahlen

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, Kantonsspital, St.Gallen, Switzerland

Walter Felix Jungi

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, Kantonsspital, St.Gallen, Switzerland

Joseph Osterwalder

Affiliation Emergency Department, Kantonsspital, St.Gallen, Switzerland

Karl Klingler

Affiliation Lung Center Hirslanden, Zürich, Switzerland

Guy van Melle

Affiliation Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

Yolande Bangala

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland

Idris Guessous

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland

Philipp Müller

Affiliation Cytos Biotechnology AG, Schlieren, Switzerland

Jörg Willers

Affiliation Cytos Biotechnology AG, Schlieren, Switzerland

Patrik Maurer

Affiliation Cytos Biotechnology AG, Schlieren, Switzerland

Martin F. Bachmann

Affiliation Cytos Biotechnology AG, Schlieren, Switzerland

Thomas Cerny

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, Kantonsspital, St.Gallen, Switzerland

Competing Interests

P. Müller, J. Willers, M.F. Bachmann, and P. Maurer are Cytos Biotechnology employees. Cytos employees were involved in the following stages of the trial: 1) study design; 2) immunological assays; 3) data analysis and interpretation; 4) writing process; and 5) decision to submit for publication. The corresponding author had full access to all the data, wrote the manuscript and had final editing rights. S. Zwahlen, Y. Bangala and I. Guessous report no conflict of interest. T. Cerny reports having relevant patent rights. J. Cornuz, T. Cerny, and W.F. Jungi report having received travel expenses fees from Cytos Biotechnology.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: JC WJ JO PM JW TC. Performed the experiments: SZ WJ KK YB IG TC. Analyzed the data: MB JC PM Gv PM JW. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: PM SZ YB IG. Wrote the paper: MB JC SZ WJ JO KK Gv PM JW TC. Other: Enrolled patients: JC. Reviewed the paper: WJ JO KK Gv YB ID TC MB PM JW PM SZ. Study supervision: JO KK TC PM WJ.