Significantly lower blood levels of IL-8 were achieved in SB rabbits treated with atorvastatin prior to pneumonia and then treated with LNZ 24 hours following the bacterial challenge than in rabbits treated with LNZ alone. The same additive anti-inflammatory effect of statin was observed in MV rabbits according to TNF-α blood levels as early as the 8th hour following the onset of infection (75%  vs. 169%  of the baseline value; p<0.001).