Whereas LPS itself is chemically inert, the presence of LPS in blood (endotoxemia), often a consequence of antibiotic therapy of preexisting bacterial infections (Holzheimer, 2001), is recognized by Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4; Beutler and Poltorak, 2001; Palsson-McDermott and O’Neill, 2004; Hennessy et al., 2010), a member of a large super-family of pattern recognition receptors (Jounai et al., 2012; Newton and Dixit, 2012; Olive, 2012). This evidence concerns the gene TLR4 and bacterial infectious disease.