IFIT2 and infection: A five-gene host signature (IFIT2, SLPI, IFI27, LCN2, and PI3) was identified and successfully used to construct an RF model that distinguishes B/V infection in febrile children, achieving 85.3% accuracy, 95.1% sensitivity, and 80.0% specificity, and to construct an ANN model that achieves 92.4% accuracy, 86.8% sensitivity, and 95% specificity.