About the Authors

Marcus Beissner

beissner@lrz.uni-muenchen.de

Affiliation Department of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine (DITM), University Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany

Nathalie Arens

Affiliation Department of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine (DITM), University Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany

Franz Wiedemann

Affiliation German Leprosy and Tuberculosis Relief Association, Togo Office (DAHW-T), Lomé, Togo

Ebekalisaï Piten

Affiliation Centre Hospitalier Régional Maritime, Tsévié (CHR-Tsévié), Togo

Basile Kobara

Affiliation Programme National de lutte contre l'Ulcère de Buruli, la Lèpre et le Pian (PNLUB-LP), Lomé, Togo

Malkin Bauer

Affiliation Department of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine (DITM), University Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany

Karl-Heinz Herbinger

Affiliation Department of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine (DITM), University Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany

Kossi Badziklou

Affiliation Institut National d’Hygiène (INH), Ministère de la Santé, Lomé, Togo

Abiba Banla Kere

Affiliation Institut National d’Hygiène (INH), Ministère de la Santé, Lomé, Togo

Thomas Löscher

Affiliation Department of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine (DITM), University Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany

Jörg Nitschke

Affiliation German Leprosy and Tuberculosis Relief Association, Togo Office (DAHW-T), Lomé, Togo

Gisela Bretzel

Affiliation Department of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine (DITM), University Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: MBe NA FW JN GB. Performed the experiments: MBe NA EP BK KB ABK. Analyzed the data: MBe NA FW BK MBa KHH TL JN GB. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: FW KHH KB ABK TL GB. Wrote the paper: MBe MBa TL JN GB. Recruitment and patient management: NA FW EP BK JN. Laboratory analyses: MBe KB ABK GB. Critical revisions of manuscript: MBe KHH TL GB.