We cannot exclude that the low or undetected levels of IFN-γ might be due to the severe lymphopenia in VL patients (2.1±0.2 in VL patients vs 5.7±0.6 white blood cells (x103); normal range = 4.5–10.5 white blood cells (x103)), however, there was no correlation between the levels of IFN-γ in the supernatant of the WBA and the WBC counts (p = 0.1052, data not illustrated), suggesting that the low frequency of cells is unlikely to account for the observed levels of IFN-γ. The gene discussed is IFNG; the disease is lymphopenia.