In line with the cytokine data, elevated CD69 surface levels could be detected on monocytes 4 h after inoculation of C. albicans (MFI 1276 ± 598) or S. aureus (MFI 1447 ± 597) compared to mock-infection (MFI 488 ± 298) in pre-operative blood without any quantitative differences between the pathogens (Fig. 6b). Here, CD69 is linked to infection.