About the Authors

Thomas Blauenfeldt

Affiliations Department of Infectious Disease Immunology, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark, Clinical Research Centre, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Copenhagen, Denmark

Jan Heyckendorf

Affiliation Clinical Infectious Diseases, German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) Tuberculosis Unit, Research Center Borstel, Borstel, Germany

Sidse Graff Jensen

Affiliation Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital Gentofte, Copenhagen, Denmark

Christoph Lange

Affiliations Clinical Infectious Diseases, German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) Tuberculosis Unit, Research Center Borstel, Borstel, Germany, Department of Medicine, University of Namibia School of Medicine, Windhoek, Namibia

Camilla Drabe

Affiliation Clinical Research Centre, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Copenhagen, Denmark

Thomas S. Hermansen

Affiliation International Reference Laboratory of Mycobacteriology, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark

Lena de Thurah

Affiliations Department of Infectious Disease Immunology, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark, Clinical Research Centre, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Copenhagen, Denmark

Troels Lillebaek

Affiliation International Reference Laboratory of Mycobacteriology, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark

Jesper Eugen-Olsen

Affiliation Clinical Research Centre, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Copenhagen, Denmark

Niels Seersholm

Affiliation Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital Gentofte, Copenhagen, Denmark

Søren Hoff

Affiliation Department of Infectious Disease Immunology, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark

Jesper Bonde

Affiliations Clinical Research Centre, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Copenhagen, Denmark, Department of Pathology, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Copenhagen, Denmark

Morten Ruhwald

moru@ssi.dk

Affiliations Department of Infectious Disease Immunology, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark, Clinical Research Centre, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Copenhagen, Denmark

Competing Interests

The authors have read the journal's policy and have the following competing interests: TB, MR, TSH, and SH are employed by Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen Denmark, which holds several pending and issued patents and patent rights on M. tuberculosis specific antigens including ESAT-6 and CFP10. MR and JEO are registered as inventors on pending and issued patents held by Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark on the use of IP-10 as a diagnostic marker for infection with M. tuberculosis. JB has served as a paid advisor in the past to Roche Molecular Systems and Genomica SAU, and received honoraria from Hologic/Gen-Probe, Roche, Qiagen, BD Diagnostics and Genomica for lectures. CL received honoraria from Astra Zeneca, Chiesi, Novartis and Pfizer for speaking at industry sponsored symposia and from Archivel, Celltrion and MSD for participating in scientific advisory boards. TL is also employed by Statens Serum Institut but declares no conflicts of interest. Roche Denmark have provided PCR reagents at reduced cost. Roche employees were not involved in the study design, interpretation of results or preparation of the manuscript. This does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. The authors confirm that co-author Morten Ruhwald is a PLOS ONE Editorial Board member. This does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE Editorial policies and criteria.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: TB MR JEO JB. Performed the experiments: TB JH SGJ CL CD LdT TSH SH MR NS. Analyzed the data: TB JB JEO MR. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: MR JB CL NS TL. Contributed to the writing of the manuscript: MR TB CL JB.