About the Authors

David W. Dowdy

Affiliation Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Karen R. Steingart

Affiliation Department of Health Services, University of Washington School of Public Health, Seattle, Washington, United States of America

Madhukar Pai

madhukar.pai@mcgill.ca

Affiliation Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, McGill University& Montreal Chest Institute, Montreal, Canada

Competing Interests

None of the authors have any financial/industry conflicts to declare. All authors participated in the WHO Expert Group meeting on TB serological tests held in July 2010. KRS and MP have contributed to published and updated meta-analyses on TB serological tests. The updated meta-analysis on TB serological tests was commissioned by WHO with funding provided by USAID through a grant administered by the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR). KRS and MP are affiliated with the Stop TB Partnership's New Diagnostics Working Group. KRS serves as co-chair of the Evidence Synthesis subgroup of Stop TB Partnership's New Diagnostics Working Group, while MP serves as Co-chair of the Working Group. MP also serves as a consultant to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). BMGF had no involvement in this manuscript. MP serves on the editorial boards of PLoS Medicine and PLoS One.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: DD KRS MP. Performed the experiments: DD. Analyzed the data: DD MP. Wrote the first draft of the manuscript: DD. Contributed to the writing of the manuscript: DD KRS MP. ICMJE criteria for authorship read and met: DD KRS MP. Agree with manuscript results and conclusions: DD KRS MP. Conducted updated meta-analysis that provided input parameters for modeling: KRS MP.