About the Authors

Iman F. Galal

Affiliation Egyptian Company for Blood Transfusion Services (Egyblood)/VACSERA; Agouza, Giza, Egypt

Zainab Zakaria

Affiliation Egyptian Company for Blood Transfusion Services (Egyblood)/VACSERA; Agouza, Giza, Egypt

Walaa R. Allam

Affiliation Egyptian Company for Blood Transfusion Services (Egyblood)/VACSERA; Agouza, Giza, Egypt

Mohamed A. Mahmoud

Affiliation Department of Hepatology, National Liver Institute, Menoufiya University, Menoufiya, Egypt

Ahmed R. Ezzat

Affiliation Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

Ahmed Osman

Affiliation Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Cairo

Imam Waked

Affiliation Department of Hepatology, National Liver Institute, Menoufiya University, Menoufiya, Egypt

G. Thomas Strickland

Affiliation Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Sayed F. Abdelwahab

sayed.awahab@mu.edu.eg

Affiliations Egyptian Company for Blood Transfusion Services (Egyblood)/VACSERA; Agouza, Giza, Egypt, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Minia University, Minia, Egypt

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: ARE AO IW GTS SFA. Performed the experiments: IFG ZZ WRA. Analyzed the data: IFG ZZ WRA ARE AO SFA. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: IW GTS SFA. Contributed to the writing of the manuscript: IFG MAM ARE AO IW GTS SFA. Enrollment of subjects and clinical examination: MAM IW.