TNF and infection: We next investigated the kinetics of expression of these cytokines in patients at 3, 8, and 12 months post admission and observed a statistically significant decrease of plasma levels of IL-4, IL-12, IL-13, and TNF-α from 3 to 8 and/or 12 months, suggesting that at 3 months the levels of these cytokines may still be affected by events occurring during the acute phase of infection.