We also tested the presence of growth factors in the plasma of CHIKV-infected patients. HGF, FGF-basic and VEGF were produced at high levels and may reflect a physiological response to tissue destruction resulting for the viral infection. Interestingly, EGF levels were lower than in healthy controls. The low levels of EGF might be due to the concomitant decrease of platelets observed in infected patients since previous studies have shown that plasma levels of EGF are associated with circulating platelets [44] .