About the Authors

Eric Budgell

ebudgell@heroza.org

Affiliations Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis, National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Services, Johannesburg, South Africa

Adam L. Cohen

Affiliation Influenza Division, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, United States and Influenza Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa

Jo McAnerney

Affiliation Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis, National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Services, Johannesburg, South Africa

Sibongile Walaza

Affiliation Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis, National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Services, Johannesburg, South Africa

Shabir A. Madhi

Affiliations Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis, National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Services, Johannesburg, South Africa, Department of Science and Technology/National Research Foundation: Vaccine-Preventable Diseases, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Lucille Blumberg

Affiliation Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis, National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Services, Johannesburg, South Africa

Halima Dawood

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Pietermaritzburg Metropolitan Hospital Complex and University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa

Kathleen Kahn

Affiliation MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Stefano Tempia

Affiliations Influenza Division, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, United States and Influenza Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa, CTS Global, Inc., Los Angeles, United States of America

Marietjie Venter

Affiliations Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis, National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Services, Johannesburg, South Africa, Zoonoses Research Unit, Department of Medical Virology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

Cheryl Cohen

Affiliations Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis, National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Services, Johannesburg, South Africa, Schools of Public Health and Pathology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Competing Interests

Stefano Tempia declares that he is employed by CTS Global, Inc., and is seconded to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in South Africa. This does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. All other authors do not declare any conflict of interest.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: EB ALC CC. Performed the experiments: EB. Analyzed the data: EB. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: ALC JM SW SAM LB HD KK ST MV CC. Wrote the paper: EB ALC CC.