About the Authors

Catherina L. Chang

Affiliation Department of Respiratory Medicine, Waikato Hospital, Hamilton, New Zealand

Graham D. Mills

Affiliations Department of Respiratory Medicine, Waikato Hospital, Hamilton, New Zealand, Department of General Medicine, Waikato Hospital, Hamilton, New Zealand

Noel C. Karalus

Affiliation Department of Respiratory Medicine, Waikato Hospital, Hamilton, New Zealand

Lance C. Jennings

Affiliations Canterbury Health Laboratories, Christchurch, New Zealand, Department of Pathology, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand

Richard Laing

Affiliation Canterbury Respiratory Services, Canterbury District Health Board, Christchurch, New Zealand

David R. Murdoch

Affiliations Canterbury Health Laboratories, Christchurch, New Zealand, Department of Pathology, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand

Stephen T. Chambers

Affiliation Department of Pathology, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand

Dominic Vettise

Affiliation Department of Respiratory Medicine, Waikato Hospital, Hamilton, New Zealand

Christine M. Tuffery

Affiliation Department of Respiratory Medicine, Waikato Hospital, Hamilton, New Zealand

Robert J. Hancox

bob.hancox@otago.ac.nz

Affiliations Department of Respiratory Medicine, Waikato Hospital, Hamilton, New Zealand, Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: CLC GDM NCK RJH. Performed the experiments: CLC GDM NCK LCJ RL DRM STC DV CMT RJH. Analyzed the data: CLC DV RJH. Wrote the paper: CLC GDM NCK LCJ RL DRM STC DV CMT RJH.