IL18 and infection due to clostridium perfringens: Although the recovery of CD4+ T cell in L. lactis treated chickens likely contributed to improved resistance to C. perfringens infection, an association between IL-17/IL-13, IL-12p40/IL-18/IFN-γ, and TGF-β/IL-10 and stage of C. perfringens infection, before and during infection, requires further studies.