Pharmacological inhibition of acid sphingomyelinase in a mouse model of S. aureus sepsis reduced liver damage, pulmonary edema, and mortality [12, 13], inhaled sphingomyelinase inhibitors reduced airway inflammation and Pseudomonas aeruginasa infection in a mouse model of cystic fibrosis [14], and this enzyme has thus been proposed as a target of host-directed treatments for bacterial infections and other inflammation-associated diseases [16, 17]. Here, SMPD1 is linked to bacterial infectious disease.