About the Authors

Catherine Satzke

catherine.satzke@mcri.edu.au

Affiliations Pneumococcal Research Group, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Royal Children’s Hospital, Parkville, Victoria, Australia, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne, Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

Eileen M. Dunne

Affiliation Pneumococcal Research Group, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Royal Children’s Hospital, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

Barbara D. Porter

Affiliation Pneumococcal Research Group, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Royal Children’s Hospital, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

Keith P. Klugman

Affiliation Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America

E. Kim Mulholland

Affiliations Pneumococcal Research Group, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Royal Children’s Hospital, Parkville, Victoria, Australia, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom

PneuCarriage project group

Membership of the PneuCarriage project group is provided in the Acknowledgments.

Competing Interests

I have read the journal's policy and the authors of the manuscript have the following competing interests: DCHB and DH are previous employees of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which provided funding for this project. KPK was employed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation towards the completion of the project, but was not involved in funding the project. KPK is a member of the Editorial Board of PLOS Medicine. CS and EMD were awarded the Robert Austrian Award which is funded by Pfizer. Authors have served on advisory boards for Merck (CS, KPK, EKM), GSK (KPK, EKM), and Pfizer (KPK). Research group authors have a scientific and/or commercial interest in the performance of their methods, so blinded testing was conducted.

Author Contributions

Performed the experiments: CS EMD BDP LKB MH JM BDO CLP JASm JEV FS JES AR KAG SO BC J-NT MM H-CS SDB MHi IAR-O MHL MM FN CEG-J CSh PT RS. Analyzed the data: CS EMD. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: JAS MA KLO’B SKS FMR ARG DL PVA SAM. Wrote the first draft of the manuscript: CS EMD. Contributed to the writing of the manuscript: CS EMD BDP KPK EKM. Enrolled patients: JAS MA KLO’B SKS FMR ARG DL PVA SAM. Agree with the manuscript’s results and conclusions: CS EMD BDP KPK EKM JAS MA KLO’B RMR-B DH DCHB LKB MH JM BDO CLP JASm JEV FS JES SKS FMR ARG DL PVA SAM LGR AR JH KAG FK SO GLG LF BC GP-B J-NT MM RB ES H-CS SDB KM MHi IAR-O JHdW BMC MHL CA MM FN PWMH CEG-J RG CSh PT DE RS. Designed and led the study: CS. Contributed to leading the study: EMD. Conceived of the study: EKM. Contributed to study conception and design: KPK JAS MA KLO’B RMR-B DH DCHB. Interpreted data: CS EMD. Led establishment of the reference serotyping method resulting in acquiring data: BDP. Advised on development of the single-plex qPCR serotyping assay: KPK. Led the development and application of the single-plex qPCR serotyping assay: JEV FS. Critically revised the manuscript: KPK JAS MA KLO’B RMR-B DH DCHB LKB MH JM BDO CLP JASm JEV FS JES SKS FMR ARG DL PVA SAM LGR JH FK GLG LF GP-B RB ES KM JHdW BMC CA PWMH RG PT DE AR KAG SO BC J-NT MM H-CS SDB MHi MHL MMo FN CEG-J CSh RS IAR-O. Oversaw application of the Quellung method for the testing of discrepant samples for data acquisition: JES. Oversaw optimisation and performance of serotyping assays leading to acquisition of data: LGR JH FK GLG LF GP-B RB ES KM JHdW BMC CA PWMH RG PT DE. Optimised and/or performed serotyping assays leading to acquisition of data: AR KAG SO BC J-NT MM H-CS SDB MHi MHL MMo FN CEG-J CSh RS IAR-O. All authors have read, and confirm that they meet, ICMJE criteria for authorship.