IL6 and infection: There are significant differences in cytokine responses between H5N1 (A/HK/483/97, A/Vietnam/1194/04 and A/Vietnam/3046/04) and H1N1 influenza viruses, primarily in relation to IFN-β, IL-6, IP-10 and RANTES which are elevated post-infection in human type II pneumocytes, but significantly more so in H5N1 infected cells, with more recent H5N1 viruses from Vietnam (H5N1/04) being more potent at inducing IP-10 [18].