About the Authors

Julian A. Villalba

jvn1987@gmail.com

Affiliations Dirección Regional de Salud Estado Delta Amacuro, Tucupita, Venezuela, Laboratorio de Tuberculosis, Instituto de Biomedicina, Caracas, Venezuela, Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America

Yushi Liu

Affiliation Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America

Mauyuri K. Alvarez

Affiliation Escuela de Medicina José María Vargas, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela

Luisana Calderon

Affiliation Escuela de Medicina José María Vargas, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela

Merari Canache

Affiliation Escuela de Medicina José María Vargas, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela

Gaudymar Cardenas

Affiliation Escuela de Medicina José María Vargas, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela

Berenice Del Nogal

Affiliations Escuela de Medicina José María Vargas, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela, Departamento de Pediatría, Hospital de Niños “J.M. de los Ríos”, Caracas, Venezuela

Howard E. Takiff

Affiliation Laboratorio de Genética Molecular, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas, Venezuela

Jacobus H. De Waard

Affiliation Laboratorio de Tuberculosis, Instituto de Biomedicina, Caracas, Venezuela

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: JAV JHW BDN. Analyzed the data: JAV YL HET JHW. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: JAV JHW BDN. Wrote the manuscript: JAV HET JHW YL. Critical revision of the article for important intellectual content : JAV HET JHW YL BDN MKA LC MC GC. Obtained approvals of the research and permissions for publication: JAV. Presented written reports of the study to health authorities: JAV. Acquisition of data: JAV MKA LC MC GC BDN.