Emollient therapy had many of the benefits we hypothesised, including improved skin condition (based on visual inspection for signs of compromised skin integrity) and skin barrier function (based on measurement of the rate of water loss through the skin) in children 2 to 24 months of age, and reduction in nosocomial infections (primarily fever) and in inflammatory markers (eg, CRP) in subgroups (by age) of treated children. The gene discussed is CRP; the disease is nosocomial infection.