Figure 5.

S. aureus growth in the GIA stratified by S.aureus carriage status. The anterior nares of all volunteers were sampled at screening and days 0 and 14. Individuals were considered ‘persistent’ carriers if two or more consecutive cultures were positive, ‘intermittent’ carriers if one or more non-consecutive cultures were positive or ‘non-carriers’ if all 3 cultures were negative. Baseline S. aureus GIA results stratified by carriage status are shown for whole blood (a) and PBMC (b). Stratified using a reclassification of carriage types into two categories (‘persistent’ carriers and ‘others’) proposed by Van Belkum et al.⁴³, S. aureus GIA baseline results are shown for whole blood (c) and PBMC (d). Bars represent the median values with the interquartile range (IQR). A Mann–Whitney test was performed where *indicates a p-value of < 0.05 and **indicates a p-value of < 0.005.