IL18 and brucellosis: For the cytokines IL-1β and IL-18 secreted after pro-Caspase-1 activation, IL-18 is significantly increased in patients with acute brucellosis, while IL-1β shows an increasing trend but is not statistically significant; in chronic brucellosis patients, IL-18 and IL-1β levels are not statistically different from healthy controls (Fig. 3).