About the Authors

Isolde C. Dapat

sol@med.niigata-u.ac.jp

Affiliation Division of International Health (Public Health), Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan

Clyde Dapat

Affiliation Division of International Health (Public Health), Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan

Tatiana Baranovich

Current address: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, United States of America

Affiliation Division of International Health (Public Health), Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan

Yasushi Suzuki

Current address: National Institute of Animal Health, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

Affiliation Division of International Health (Public Health), Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan

Hiroki Kondo

Affiliation Division of International Health (Public Health), Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan

Yugo Shobugawa

Affiliation Division of International Health (Public Health), Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan

Reiko Saito

Affiliation Division of International Health (Public Health), Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan

Hiroshi Suzuki

Affiliation School of Nursing, Niigata Seiryo University, Niigata, Japan

the Japanese Influenza Collaborative Study Group

For a list of the members of the Japanese Influenza Collaborative Study Group please see the Acknowledgments section

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: RS HS ICD CD Y. Suzuki. Performed the experiments: ICD CD TB Y. Suzuki HK. Analyzed the data: ICD CD TB Y. Suzuki RS HS. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: Y. Shobugawa. Wrote the paper: ICD RS HS.