A correlation between high levels of IL-6 with mortality rate has been reported in systemic bacterial infection in humans and dogs (Nijsten et al. 1978; Oda et al. 2005; Rau et al. 2007), in malaria (Day et al. 1999; Mbengue et al. 2015) and canine babesiosis (Goddard et al. 2016). The gene discussed is IL6; the disease is malaria.