About the Authors

Anne L. Wyllie

Affiliation Department of Paediatric Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Wilhelmina's Children Hospital, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Mei Ling J. N. Chu

Affiliation Department of Paediatric Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Wilhelmina's Children Hospital, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Mariëlle H. B. Schellens

Affiliation Department of Paediatric Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Wilhelmina's Children Hospital, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Jody van Engelsdorp Gastelaars

Affiliation Department of Paediatric Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Wilhelmina's Children Hospital, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Marc D. Jansen

Affiliation Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Arie van der Ende

Affiliation Department of Medical Microbiology and the Netherlands Reference Laboratory for Bacterial Meningitis, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Debby Bogaert

Affiliation Department of Paediatric Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Wilhelmina's Children Hospital, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Elisabeth A. M. Sanders

Affiliation Department of Paediatric Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Wilhelmina's Children Hospital, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Krzysztof Trzciński

K.Trzcinski@umcutrecht.nl

Affiliation Department of Paediatric Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Wilhelmina's Children Hospital, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Competing Interests

The authors have read the journal's policy and have the following conflicts. AvdE has received grants from Pfizer for research on pneumococcal infections and from Novartis for research on antigen variability in meningococci and has received consulting fees from Pfizer and GSK. DB has received consulting fees from Pfizer. EAMS declares to have received unrestricted research support from Pfizer, grant support for (vaccine) studies from Pfizer and GSK and fees paid to the institution for advisory boards and participation in independent data monitoring committees for Pfizer and GSK. KT has received consulting fees from Pfizer and grant support for studies on pneumococcal carriage from Pfizer. This does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. All other authors report no potential conflicts.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: ALW MLJNC MHBS EAMS KT. Performed the experiments: ALW MLJNC MHBS JvEG KT. Analyzed the data: ALW KT. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: ALW MLJNC MDJ AvdE DB KT. Wrote the paper: ALW DB EAMS KT. Amended and commented on the final manuscript: ALW MLJNC MHBS JvEG MDJ AvdE DB EAMS KT.