Systemic and local inflammatory markers such as TNF-α, IL-6, and CRP have been shown to be overexpressed in HIV infection, pneumonia and other diseases [5,21,47–49], with Fitzpatrick et al 2016 reporting a strong association between IL-6 and TNF-α (r = 0.87) [38]. This evidence concerns the gene IL6 and susceptibility to pneumonia measurement.