Respiratory samples from adults were obtained from a previous study conducted from December 2002 to April 2003 at 3 university-affi liated hospitals in the province of Quebec, Canada (24) . Two groups of patients were enrolled: those >40 years of age with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who came to emergency departments with exacerbation of their illness (including patients with pneumonia), and those >18 years of age without COPD who were admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of community-acquired pneumonia. Patients were excluded from the study if they came to the hospital >7 days after onset of symptoms.