The CSF chemokine levels of IL-8 (78.40 (21.73–267.34) pg/ml), RANTES (1.56 (0.77–3.30) pg/ml), MIG (3.42 (1.72–5.34) pg/ml) and IP-10 (1238.82 (391.55–2812.31) pg/ml) were significantly higher in patients with encephalitis in the acute stage compared to those with FC (20.56 (13.28–37.98) pg/ml, 0.59 (0.38–0.94) pg/ml, 1.16 (0.50–1.46) pg/ml, 154.12 (63.48–264.60) pg/ml, respectively) (Fig. 1a,b,c,e). The gene discussed is CXCL9; the disease is viral encephalitis.