Table 4.

Results of Molecular Culture and 16S sequencing of 8 sterile cultures

Participant number	Sample type	Culturing	Molecular Culture	Illumina 16S sequencing	Remarks
00005	Bone Ulcer bed	Sterile Sterile	Sterile Mycobacterium sp. Pseudomonas aeruginosa	Sterile Sterile	MC and 16S had a very low number of reads, identified as contamination Not clear whether the MC signal was genuine MC signal was contamination or signal mix-up
00008	Ulcer bed	Sterile	Sterile	Enhydrobacter aerosaccus	Signal of 16S interpreted as contamination
10010	Bone	Sterile	Serratia sp.	Serratia sp.
10011	Bone	Sterile	Proteus sp.	Proteus sp.
00023	Bone	Sterile	Bacteroides fragilis	Bacteroides dorei/fragilis (post hoc)	Results of 16S are from post hoc analyses
00024	Bone	Sterile	Staphylococcus sp	Staphylococcus pettenkoferi