IFNG and infection: In the pre-clinical, incubation phase of infection prior to disease onset there are low chlamydial loads associated with an immune profile that is largely type-1 inflammatory, with increased expression of IFN-γ and IDO. In a previous study of the conjunctival cytokine responses of a small group of individuals followed over a 6-mo period, we found a strong positive correlation between the amount of chlamydial 16S rRNA and IFN-γ mRNA [28].