A comparison of the groups (‘early’ [15 min, 30 min and 60 min] and ‘late’[4 hrs and 10 hrs]) post H37Rv-infection and post Δ-mce1 H37Rv-infection showed that there was a significant difference in the concentration of cytokines when comparing the post ‘early’ H37Rv-infection vs. the post ‘early’ Δ-mce1 H37Rv-infection groups, and the post ‘late’ H37Rv-infection vs. post ‘early’ Δ-mce1 H37Rv-infection groups for IL-1b, IL-9, IL13, Eotaxin and GM-CSF (all had a P-value of <0.001). The gene discussed is IL1B; the disease is infection.