About the Authors

Danuta M. Skowronski

danuta.skowronski@bccdc.ca

Affiliations British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Marie-Eve Hamelin

Affiliations Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Québec [University Hospital Centre of Québec], Québec, Canada, Laval University, Québec, Canada

Gaston De Serres

Affiliations Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Québec [University Hospital Centre of Québec], Québec, Canada, Laval University, Québec, Canada, Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec [National Institute of Health of Québec], Québec, Canada

Naveed Z. Janjua

Affiliations British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Guiyun Li

Affiliation British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Suzana Sabaiduc

Affiliations British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Xavier Bouhy

Affiliation Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Québec [University Hospital Centre of Québec], Québec, Canada

Christian Couture

Affiliation Institut universitaire de cardiologie et pneumologie de Québec, Québec, Québec, Canada

Anders Leung

Affiliation Public Health Agency of Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Darwyn Kobasa

Affiliations Public Health Agency of Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Carissa Embury-Hyatt

Affiliation Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Erwin de Bruin

Affiliation Laboratory for Infectious Disease Research, Diagnostics and Screening, Centre for Infectious Disease Control (CIDC), Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu (RIVM) [National Institute of Public Health and the Environment], Bilthoven, The Netherlands

Robert Balshaw

Affiliations British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Sophie Lavigne

Affiliation Institut universitaire de cardiologie et pneumologie de Québec, Québec, Québec, Canada

Martin Petric

Affiliations British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Marion Koopmans

Affiliations Laboratory for Infectious Disease Research, Diagnostics and Screening, Centre for Infectious Disease Control (CIDC), Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu (RIVM) [National Institute of Public Health and the Environment], Bilthoven, The Netherlands, Viroscience Department, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Guy Boivin

Affiliations Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Québec [University Hospital Centre of Québec], Québec, Canada, Laval University, Québec, Canada

Competing Interests

The authors have the following conflicts: Gaston De Serres has received research grants from GSK and Sanofi Pasteur and received reimbursement for travel fee to attend a GSK ad hoc Advisory board meeting. Guy Boivin has received research grants from GSK and Medicago. Marion Koopmans and Erwin de Bruin have received grants from the Dutch government, from the Wellcome trust, and from the European commission. Before joining the BC Centre for Disease Control, Robert Balshaw was previously (within the last 36 months) Director of Biometrics for Syreon Corporation, a contract research organization which has conducted clinical trials on behalf of pharmaceutical companies. The other authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to report. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to all PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: DMS GDS MEH NZJ GB. Performed the experiments: MEH SS XB CC AL CEH SL MP GB MK EDB. Analyzed the data: NZJ GL DMS MEH GDS EDB RB. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: SS XB CC AL CEH MK EDB RB. Wrote the paper: DMS MEH GDS NZJ GL SS XB CC AL DK CEH SL MP GB MK EDB RB.