Interestingly, although intracellular IL-2 levels mirrored the serum levels at days 28 and 56-post infection, IL-2 expression was exacerbated in the LCMV-METH group compared to infection alone in the splenocytes of both CD4 and CD8 T cells at day 14 (LCMV vs. LCMV-METH—*P<0.05 for IL-2 expression in CD8 T cells). This evidence concerns the gene CD8A and infection.