Reply to Larcombe and Orr: Still seeing the big picture

I greatly thank Larcombe and Orr for correcting the inaccurate statement we reported in our paper (Napolioni and MacMurray, 2015) on the adaptation of high-producing IL6-174G allele (rs1800795) to tuberculosis. ‘‘Errare humanum est” (Lucius Annaeus Seneca, 4 BC to 45 AD), but this inconsistency does not affect the ‘‘take home message” our paper tries to offer the readers. Indeed, multiple evidence supports the association of IL6 genetic variability with infectious diseases. Beside the comprehensive study carried out by Fumagalli et al. (2011) that provides evolutionary evidence of a pathogendriven natural selection at the IL6 locus, several studies support the role of IL6 rs1800795 in shaping the susceptibility to infective agents.