Although some strains seem to benefit more from the IFN-α induced effects than others, recorded infection indices were consistently higher in stimulated macrophages of LEM3323 in both mice species (BALB/c p = 0.0180, C57BL/6 p = 0.0454), resulting in the selection of this strain for the majority of the subsequent in vitro and in vivo infection experiments. Here, IFNA1 is linked to infection.