Retraction Note to: BMC Infectious Diseases 2014, 14:182 https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2334-14-182

The Editor has retracted this article. After publication, concerns were raised about unexpected similarities in Figs. 1 and 2. They were addressed in an Erratum, but additional concerns emerged, specifically:

  • Apparent similarities of the backgrounds in lanes 4 and 5 in Fig. 2 in the original article, as well as lanes 3–4 in Image 1A in the correction [1].

  • Apparent similarities of the backgrounds in lane 2 of Fig. 1 and lane 2 of Fig. 2 in the original article, as well as lanes 1 and 6 in Image 1A in the correction [1].

The authors have provided further explanation for the figure similarity, however the Editor found these to not be satisfactory. Furthermore, the authors were unable to provide evidence of the ethics approval for the study. None of the authors agree to this retraction.