About the Authors

Taslima T. Lina

Affiliation Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States Of America

Shatha Alzahrani

Affiliation Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States Of America

Jennifer House

Affiliation Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States Of America

Yoshio Yamaoka

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, United States Of America

Arlene H. Sharpe

Affiliation Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States Of America

Bill A. Rampy

Affiliation Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States Of America

Irina V. Pinchuk

vreyes@utmb.edu (VER); ivpinchu@utmb.edu (IVP)

Affiliations Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States Of America, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States Of America

Victor E. Reyes

vreyes@utmb.edu (VER); ivpinchu@utmb.edu (IVP)

Affiliations Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States Of America, Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States Of America

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: TTL SA JH IVP VER. Performed the experiments: TTL SA JH. Analyzed the data: TTL SA JH BAR IVP VER. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: AHS YY IVP VER. Wrote the paper: TTL IVP VER.