About the Authors

Paul Andres Cardenas

Affiliations National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom, Fundación Ecuatoriana para la Investigación en Salud FEPIS, Quinindé, Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador, Institute of Microbiology, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador

Philip J. Cooper

Affiliations Fundación Ecuatoriana para la Investigación en Salud FEPIS, Quinindé, Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador, Colegio de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom

Michael J. Cox

Affiliation National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom

Martha Chico

Affiliation Fundación Ecuatoriana para la Investigación en Salud FEPIS, Quinindé, Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador

Carlos Arias

Affiliation Fundación Ecuatoriana para la Investigación en Salud FEPIS, Quinindé, Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador

Miriam F. Moffatt

Contributed equally to this work with: Miriam F. Moffatt, William Osmond Cookson

Affiliation National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom

William Osmond Cookson

Contributed equally to this work with: Miriam F. Moffatt, William Osmond Cookson

w.cookson@imperial.ac.uk

Affiliation National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: PAC PJC MFM WOC. Performed the experiments: PAC. Analyzed the data: PAC MJC. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: PJC MFM WOC. Wrote the paper: PAC PJC MFM WOC. Samples collection: PCA MC CA.