70). Similarly, in a small human study, PBMCs isolated from stage II and III NEC infants at diagnosis exhibited 3-fold more cells spontaneously secreting IL-4 than GA-matched healthy controls (Ref. 138). However, comparing pre-operative NEC infants and GA-matched controls, serum IL-4 was not different, while IL-5 was 50% lower (Ref. 88), a surprising finding as onset of NEC coincides with eosinophilia (Ref. 150). Moreover, infants affected by NEC less frequently carried a high-bioactivity variant of the IL-4Rα chain (Ref. 151). The gene discussed is IL4; the disease is Increased total eosinophil count.