About the Authors

Pirjo Wacklin

pirjo.wacklin@veripalvelu.fi

Affiliation Finnish Red Cross Blood Service, Helsinki, Finland

Jarno Tuimala

Affiliation Finnish Red Cross Blood Service, Helsinki, Finland

Janne Nikkilä

Affiliation Finnish Red Cross Blood Service, Helsinki, Finland

Sebastian Tims

Affiliation Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

Harri Mäkivuokko

Affiliation Finnish Red Cross Blood Service, Helsinki, Finland

Noora Alakulppi

Affiliation Finnish Red Cross Blood Service, Helsinki, Finland

Pia Laine

Affiliation Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

Mirjana Rajilic-Stojanovic

Affiliation Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

Lars Paulin

Affiliation Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

Willem M. de Vos

Affiliations Department of Veterinary Biosciences and Department of Bacteriology and Immunology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

Jaana Mättö

Affiliation Finnish Red Cross Blood Service, Helsinki, Finland

Competing Interests

For conflict of interests, the authors declare that PW, HM and JM are inventors in patent applications (20110158950, Use of Blood group status I; 20110158951, Use of Blood group status II; 20120020941 Use of Blood group status III). Of these, patent application 20120020941 “Use of Blood group status III” is related to the data used in the manuscript. This does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: HM JM PW MR-S WdV. Performed the experiments: PW NA MR-S PKL LP. Analyzed the data: PW JN JT ST JM WdV PKL NA. Wrote the paper: PW JM ST JT JN WdV. Designed and conducted the collection of the faecal samples: HM JM PW.