We observed that zymosan infusion triggered an acute pulmonary hypertension, followed by a prolonged and markedly increased neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in parallel with massive rise in IL-6, TNF-alpha, CCL-2, CXCL-10, and IL-1RA expression in blood, resembling COVID-19 associated severe cytokine storm syndrome. This evidence concerns the gene IL6 and COVID-19.