CXCL8 and severe acute respiratory syndrome: This may partially explain the clinical observation of dramatic cytokine storm (high serum levels of IL-6 and IL-8) and inflammation responses observed in SARS patients in the acute stage associated with lung lesions; it has been also suggested that the elevations of IL-6 and IL-8 due to SARS-CoV infection of the respiratory tract can induce the hyper-innate inflammatory response [39].