AUTHOR'S CORRECTION
Volume 194, no. 24, pages 6706–6711, 2012.
Due to an oversight when writing our tribute to J. W. Costerton, we realized that we missed the citation of some key work published by Niels Høiby in 1973 and 1974 (N. Høiby and N. H. Axelsen, Acta Pathol. Microbiol. Scand. B Microbiol. Immunol. 81:298–308, 1973; N. Høiby, Acta Pathol. Microbiol. Scand. B Microbiol. Immunol. 82:551–558, 1974). Using pathological, microbiological, and microscopic techniques, Høiby demonstrated that Pseudomonas aeruginosa pulmonary infection in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients was an obstructive disease due to stagnated and thickened mucus and that the host immune response to this infection was directed towards the mucoid P. aeruginosa aggregates in sputum and not towards the nonmucoid colonies that developed during lab culture. These mucoid bacterial aggregations were later called microcolonies or biofilm infections by the Costerton group. Høiby discussed the findings with Costerton at the 2nd Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Professional Conference in Montreal, Canada, in 1977 and later at an NIH-Cystic Fibrosis Foundation meeting in 1979, and the interactions between these two scientists initiated a life-long cooperation between the Costerton and the Høiby laboratories. These observations predate those made by the Costerton group in 1980 (J. Lam, R. Chan, K. Lam, J. W. Costerton, Infect. Immun. 28:546–556, 1980). Høiby's findings have had a major impact on our understanding of the pathogenesis and treatment of lung disease in CF patients and helped develop the biofilm concept in chronic infections.