Some of the features known to accompany disease severity in COVID-19 such as lymphopenia, thrombocytopenia, production of antiphospholipid antibodies, and a broad array of cytokine responses60,61 could be observed in Yaa-DKO males in the absence of any viral infections suggesting that these effects could directly result from unbridled TLR7 stimulation. This evidence concerns the gene TLR7 and viral infectious disease.