During the febrile phase significant increase in cytokine circulating levels was detected including IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, MCP-1 and MIP-1β levels, which were maintained also elevated in defervescence (data not shown, analysed by non parametric Kruskal-Wallis test and Dunn's Multiple Comparison Test when compared with controls, P < 0.05); no significantly altered febrile levels were found when compared to defervescence. During the febrile Cytokine levels in plasma from patients with mild and severe dengue Figure 1 Cytokine levels in plasma from patients with mild and severe dengue. Box-and-whiskers graph. The box extends from the 25 th to the 75 th percentile and the line at the middle is the median. The error bars, or whiskers extend down to the lowest value and up to the highest. Factors were sorted according to their functional groups. Mann-Whitney U test was used to evaluate differences between cytokine concentration from severe and mild dengue patients. * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01 and ** P < 0.001.