About the Authors
- Soumaya Khalfaoui
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Contributed equally to this work with: Soumaya Khalfaoui, Vivien Eichhorn
Affiliation Kliniken der Stadt Köln gGmbH, University Hospital Witten/Herdecke, Cologne-Merheim, Ostmerheimer Strasse 200, Institute for Pathology, D-51109 Cologne, Germany
- Vivien Eichhorn
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Contributed equally to this work with: Soumaya Khalfaoui, Vivien Eichhorn
Affiliation Kliniken der Stadt Köln gGmbH, University Hospital Witten/Herdecke, Cologne-Merheim, Ostmerheimer Strasse 200, Institute for Pathology, D-51109 Cologne, Germany
- Christian Karagiannidis
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Affiliation Kliniken der Stadt Köln gGmbH, University Hospital Witten/Herdecke, Cologne-Merheim, Ostmerheimer Strasse 200, Department of Pneumology and Critical Care Medicine, D-51109 Cologne, Germany
- Inga Bayh
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Affiliation Institute for Medical Biometry and Epidemiology, Faculty of Health, Alfred-Herrhausen-Str. 50, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany
- Michael Brockmann
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Affiliation Kliniken der Stadt Köln gGmbH, University Hospital Witten/Herdecke, Cologne-Merheim, Ostmerheimer Strasse 200, Institute for Pathology, D-51109 Cologne, Germany
- Monika Pieper
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Affiliation Kliniken der Stadt Köln gGmbH, University Hospital Witten/Herdecke, Cologne-Merheim, Ostmerheimer Strasse 200, Institute for Pathology, D-51109 Cologne, Germany
- Wolfram Windisch
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Affiliation Kliniken der Stadt Köln gGmbH, University Hospital Witten/Herdecke, Cologne-Merheim, Ostmerheimer Strasse 200, Department of Pneumology and Critical Care Medicine, D-51109 Cologne, Germany
- Oliver Schildgen
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Affiliation Kliniken der Stadt Köln gGmbH, University Hospital Witten/Herdecke, Cologne-Merheim, Ostmerheimer Strasse 200, Institute for Pathology, D-51109 Cologne, Germany
- Verena Schildgen
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* E-mail: schildgenv@kliniken-koeln.de; verena.schildgen@uni-wh.de
Affiliation Kliniken der Stadt Köln gGmbH, University Hospital Witten/Herdecke, Cologne-Merheim, Ostmerheimer Strasse 200, Institute for Pathology, D-51109 Cologne, Germany
Competing Interests
The authors have read the journal's policy and have the following competing interests: OS is Academic Editor of PLOS ONE. All other authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Author Contributions
Conceived and designed the experiments: VS OS. Performed the experiments: SK VE MP. Analyzed the data: MB OS VS IB. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: WW CK. Wrote the paper: VS OS. Performed experimental procedures: SK VE MP OS VS. Performed clinical procedures and collected routine microbiological data: CK WW. Analysed the BALs and performed all pathological analyses: MB. Wrote the manuscript: OS VS. Designed and supervised the study: VS.