As early as 24 h following the latest infection (i.e. day 3 p.i.), already 50 % of WT mice had expelled the pathogen from their intestinal tract and were all culture-negative by day 10 p.i., whereas C. jejuni could be isolated from fecal samples at median loads of 104 to 105 CFU per gram in more than 70 % of IL-23p19−/− and 100 % of IL-22−/− and IL-18−/− mice until the end of the experiment (Fig. 1). This evidence concerns the gene IL18 and infection.