IFNA1 and Thrombocytopenia: Support for this hypothesis comes from studies of experimental murine lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) infection showing an association between thrombocytopenia and reduced megakaryocyte number at the bone marrow level [13] and the observation that the reversible depression of hematopoiesis during early LCMV infection is a direct effect of IFN α/β [14].