After four months of infection, six proinflammatory cytokines (IFN-β, IFN-λ1, IFN-γ, CXCL9, CXCL10, IL-8 and soluble T cell immunoglobulin mucin domain 3 (sTIM-3)) were significantly raised in the long COVID patients and the asymptomatic matched control (MC) groups compared to those infected with other human coronaviruses (HCoV) and unexposed healthy control (UHC) groups. The gene discussed is IFNB1; the disease is infection.