Only 18.1% (58/320) of sepsis cases showed TNF-α elevations above the normal range, while TNF-α levels in viral infections remained low (median 2.7 pg/mL vs 60.1 pg/mL in bacteremia), demonstrating its poor discriminatory ability between infectious etiologies Median TNF-α levels were 60.1 pg/mL in severe sepsis (shock/MODS) versus 7.0 pg/mL in mild infections, demonstrating significant overlap. The gene discussed is TNF; the disease is infection.