Our results confirmed that, as predicted for a BCL-2 antiapoptosis family member, caspase 3 and 7 activities increased at early times post-infection of macrophages with the recombinant virus from which the A179L gene was deleted, Benin∆A179L, compared to infections with the wild-type Benin 97/1 virus or in mock-infected macrophages. This evidence concerns the gene BCL2 and infection.