TNF and COVID-19: In contrast, another Chinese study found that compared with COVID-19 patients, COVID-19 and influenza co-infected patients had more profound inflammation and organ injury, as expressed by significantly higher WBCs, neutrophil counts, creatinine levels, D-dimers, and TNF-α (p-values < 0.05), indicative of a “cytokine storm” triggered by influenza co-infection [35].