On day 5, the median titers of inflammatory mediators interleukin-6 (IL-6) and IL-1β were significantly lower in nasal washes from mice in the NTHi otitis media model that were pretreated with M. muris (M. muris + IAV + NTHi) than from mice with no M. muris pretreatment (IAV + NTHi) as follows: IL-6, 171 pg/ml (95% CI, 75.7 to 340) versus 492 pg/ml (95% CI, 304.8 to 1,055), P = 0.0031; IL-1β, 0.9 pg/ml (95% CI, 0.895 to 3.73) versus 5.1 pg/ml (95% CI, 0.895 to 7.61), P = 0.0229 (Fig. 2A). The gene discussed is IL6; the disease is otitis media.