CXCL9 and infection: Neutralization of endogenous CXCL9 in B. anthracis spore-challenged animals was found to significantly increase host susceptibility to pulmonary infection (p = 0.012) resulting in approximately 30% mortality as compared to spore-challenged animals receiving control serum, <5% mortality (Figure 3); administration of CXCL9 neutralizing serum in the absence of infection was not found to cause death, with 12/12 mice surviving beyond 20 days.