Abstract
I read the recent report on chest imaging in H1N1 influenza with great interest (1). Jartti et al. concluded that ‘The pandemic 2009 swine influenza caused common and widely distributed infiltrates on chest radiographs among hospitalized patients, even in the first days of the disease, which are not peculiar to usual respiratory viral infections, and these findings cannot be differentiated from those of usual bacterial pneumonia’ (1). It should be noted that this observation is from the hospitalized severely ill patients with already developed severe pneumonia. This is in contrast to a recent report from Italy that indicated ‘interstitial changes and patchy ground-glass appearance, mostly bilateral, and located in the lower lung zones’ (2). Indeed, the severity and the age of the patients should be considered when we discuss the radiographic findings of the patients with H1N1 influenza. In another study on pediatric patients, it was reported that the findings are ‘often normal, but they may demonstrate prominent peribronchial markings with hyperinflation’ (3).