IL6 and acute respiratory distress syndrome: In patients with ARDS infected with MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV, IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-8 levels were also found high (9, 10) In other respiratory viral infections such as influenza, IL-1β levels were also elevated in patients with lung injury, whereas the use of antagonists of IL-1β reduced it, which indicates an important role of IL-1β in the pathogenesis of complications in viral infections such as SARS-CoV infections (11, 12).