About the Authors

Ahmed El-Shamy

Affiliations Division of Microbiology, Center for Infectious Diseases, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan, Department of Virology, Suez Canal University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ismalia, Egypt

Ikuo Shoji

Affiliation Division of Microbiology, Center for Infectious Diseases, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan

Soo-Ryang Kim

Affiliation Division of Gastroenterology, Kobe Asahi Hospital, Kobe, Japan

Yoshihiro Ide

Affiliation Division of Microbiology, Center for Infectious Diseases, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan

Susumu Imoto

Affiliation Division of Gastroenterology, Kobe Asahi Hospital, Kobe, Japan

Lin Deng

Affiliation Division of Microbiology, Center for Infectious Diseases, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan

Seitetsu Yoon

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology, Hyogo Prefectural Kakogawa Medical Center, Kakogawa, Hyogo, Japan

Takashi Fujisawa

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, Nippon Steel Hirohata Hospital, Himeji, Hyogo, Japan

Satoshi Tani

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, Konan Hospital, Kobe, Japan

Yoshihiko Yano

Affiliation Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan

Yasushi Seo

Affiliation Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan

Takeshi Azuma

Affiliation Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan

Hak Hotta

hotta@kobe-u.ac.jp

Affiliation Division of Microbiology, Center for Infectious Diseases, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: AE SRK HH. Performed the experiments: AE IS YI LD. Analyzed the data: AE IS YI LD SI SY TF ST YY YS TA HH. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: SRK SI SY TF ST YY YS TA. Wrote the paper: AE SRK HH. Obtained permissions from the Ethics Committees: AE SRK HH.