Fig. 6

Levels of Haemophilus influenzae and sputum neutrophils at baseline and 6 months later. Change in Haemophilus influenzae (HI) level over 6 months for patients colonised with HI at both visits (n = 9) (a). Sputum neutrophil % over 6 months corresponding to patients in panel 6a (b). Change in HI level over 6 months for patients with development or loss of HI colonisation over 6 months (n = 5) (c). Sputum neutrophil % over 6 months corresponding to patients in panel c (n = 5) (d). Sputum neutrophil % over 6 months corresponding to patients with no colonisation at both visits (n = 13) (e). Green lines indicate gain and blue line indicates loss of HI colonisation over 6 months. Corresponding graph for panel 6e not shown as colonisation was below the lower level of detection. Dotted line indicates lower level of detection for bacterial qPCR of ≥ 1 × 10⁴ genome copies/mL (a, c). No formal statistical analyses were undertaken