Our findings are in line with in vitro data showing that CMV infection of monocyte-derived macrophages promotes the release of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-8 upon stimulation with TLR2, TLR4, and TLR5 -ligands (Smith et al., 2014), and suggest that CMV infection can contribute to pro-inflammatory cytokine responses by priming the host immune response to react powerfully to unrelated microbial signals. Here, IL6 is linked to cytomegalovirus infection.