Several cytokines and chemokines, including TNF and CXCL10, have been found to be associated with CM severity (Kwiatkowski et al., 1990; Wilson et al., 2011), while a more recent study reported that neither plasma nor cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) TNF concentration were indicative of CM-associated mortality, yet elevated levels of TNF in CSF of pediatric CM cases were associated with long-term neurologic and cognitive deficits (Shabani et al., 2017). Here, TNF is linked to Cognitive impairment.