IL1B and infection: In the cutaneous leishmaniasis model, the subcutaneous injection of high dose of L. major in the paws of BALB/c mice causes a sustained hyperalgesia accompanied by an increase in the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-lβ and NGF (Kanaan et al., 2000) while infection with a low dose of the parasite causes a short lived hyperalgesia accompanied by the upregulation of IL-1β and IL-6 (Karam et al., 2006).