As shown in Fig. 2 and S1, infection with the modern lineage strains induced a higher production of TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1β, and IL-10 compared to the ancient strains at 5 h (Fig. 2a: p = 0.01, p = 0.0008, p = 0.001, and p = 0.04, respectively), 1 day (Fig. 2b: p = 0.0008, p = 0.01, p = 0.02, and p = 0.0008, respectively) and 3 days post infection (Fig. 2c: p = 0.02, p = 0.02, p = 0.0004, and p = 0.05, respectively). This evidence concerns the gene IL6 and infection.