About the Authors

Anne S. De Groot

dr.annie.degroot@gmail.com.

Affiliations GAIA Vaccine Foundation, Providence, RI, United States of America, Institute for Immunology and Informatics (iCubed), University of Rhode Island, Providence, RI, United States of America

Karamoko Tounkara

Affiliation Foundation GAIA, Bamako, Mali

Mali Rochas

Affiliation GAIA Vaccine Foundation, Providence, RI, United States of America

Sarah Beseme

Affiliation GAIA Vaccine Foundation, Providence, RI, United States of America

Shahla Yekta

Affiliation GAIA Vaccine Foundation, Providence, RI, United States of America

Fanta Siby Diallo

Affiliation Regional Director of Health, Bamako, Mali

J. Kathleen Tracy

Affiliation Departments of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Ibrahima Teguete

Affiliation Hôpital Gabriel Touré, Bamako, Mali

Ousmane A. Koita

Affiliation Laboratory of Applied Molecular Biology (LBMA), Science and Technologies Faculty (FST), University of Science Techniques and Technologies of Bamako (USTTB), Bamako, Mali

Competing Interests

There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This study was supported in part by a research grant from the Investigator-Initiated Studies Program of Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp (MS&D). EpiVax, Inc. also provided funding in the form of salaries for author Anne S De Groot. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: ADG MR FSD OAK. Performed the experiments: KT SY JKT. Analyzed the data: ADG SY MR SB. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: ADG MR FSD IT OAK KT SY JKT. Wrote the paper: SY SB ADG. Coordinated education of outreach workers, supervised field study and recruitment of study subjects: IT KT.