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Article History

Received: 26 November 2025

Accepted: 30 June 2026

First Online: 7 July 2026

Ethics approval and consent to participate

: This study has been approved by the institutional review board at the American University of Beirut under identification number BIO-2017-0479 with a waiver of consent. This research is adherent to all principles stated by the Declaration of Helsinki.

: Not applicable.

: The authors of this manuscript have conflicts of interest to disclose as described BioMed Central Infectious Diseases. All authors report funding support from the ARLG of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID; UM1AI104681) during the conduct of this study. JFJ, HK, EJ, JRH, SFH, ZAK, NKZ, AGA, LK, YL, JJ, GFA, and GMM have nothing to declare other than ARLG grant paid to their institution. YD reports grants paid to his institutions by Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, honorarium paid to him by Shionogi, and serving on advisory boards for GSK, Shionogi, and Meiji Seika Pharma. VGF reports grants to his institution from Merck, Contrafect, Karius, Basilea, Janssen, AstraZeneca, EDE (Exponential Deep Examination); royalties from UpToDate; personal fees from Akagera, AstraZeneca, Armata, Basilea, Debiopharm, GSK, Integrated Biotherapeutics, Karius; pending patent for a host gene expression signature diagnostic for sepsis; and stock options with Valanbio. DLP serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Antibiotic Action Fund, has grant funding from Shionogi, Pfizer and Merck and serves on advisory boards or has given lectures for Pfizer, Merck, bioMerieux, Zuellig, Entasis, QPex and VenatoRx. MJS reports grants/contracts to his institution from Melinta, Merck, Selux Diagnostics, SNIPRBiome, and bioMérieux; and compensation for participation on a DSMB from AbbVie paid directly to him. DVD reports grants and contracts from the NIH, Merck, and Shinogi; consultancy for Actavis, Tetraphase, Sanofi-Pasteur, MedImmune, Astellas, Merck, Allergan, T2Biosystems, Roche, Achaogen, Neumedicine, Shionogi, Pfizer, Entasis, Qpex, Wellspring, Karius, Teva, and Utility paid directly to him; honoraria from Pfizer; and an editor’s stipend from the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC). SKS received speaker honoraria from MSD, Pfizer, Gilead, Menarini, and Hikma.