Pretreatment of mice with M. muris (M. muris + IAV + NTHi) prevented the elevated IL-1β response observed in the ears of mice in the NTHi otitis media group (IAV + NTHi) on day 5 (P = 0.0427); however, this was reversed by day 7 where mice receiving M. muris pretreatment had higher median IL-1β titers in their ears than untreated mice in the otitis media model (P = 0.0125) (Fig. 2B). This evidence concerns the gene IL1B and otitis media.