About the Authors

A. Malik Tareen

Affiliation University Medical Center Göttingen, Institute for Medical Microbiology, Göttingen, Germany

Carsten G. K. Lüder

Affiliation University Medical Center Göttingen, Institute for Medical Microbiology, Göttingen, Germany

Andreas E. Zautner

Affiliations University Medical Center Göttingen, Institute for Medical Microbiology, Göttingen, Germany, University Medical Center Göttingen, Department of Clinical Chemistry/Central Laboratory, Göttingen, Germany

Uwe Groß

Affiliation University Medical Center Göttingen, Institute for Medical Microbiology, Göttingen, Germany

Markus M. Heimesaat

Affiliation Charité – University Medicine Berlin, Department of Microbiology and Hygiene, Berlin, Germany

Stefan Bereswill

Affiliation Charité – University Medicine Berlin, Department of Microbiology and Hygiene, Berlin, Germany

Raimond Lugert

rlugert@gwdg.de

Affiliation University Medical Center Göttingen, Institute for Medical Microbiology, Göttingen, Germany

Competing Interests

Markus M. Heimesaat and Stefan Bereswill currently serve as editors for this journal. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: RL AMT UG. Performed the experiments: AMT AEZ CGKL. Analyzed the data: AMT RL MMH SB CGKL. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: AMT RL AEZ UG. Wrote the paper: RL UG MMH SB.