Having shown that profound inflammatory lung responses to a bacterial lysate improved survival of mice infected with noncognate bacteria [16] , we investigated the effect of stimulation of lung mucosal innate immunity on survival of influenza A pneumonia. Mice challenged by aerosol with influenza A/Hong Kong/8/68 (H3N2) (A/HK) universally succumbed to hemorrhagic pneumonia unless pretreated with aerosolized NTHi lysate (Fig. 1A) . This treatment reduced mortality .90% if delivered on the day prior to infection, .50% if delivered 3 days prior to infection, and to a lesser degree if delivered one day after infection (Fig. 1B) . Mortality occurred within 10 days of the viral inoculation, and observation for 21 days after infection showed no subsequent mortality. The protection imparted by the aerosolized lysate was paralleled by the recovery of body weight lost early in the course of infection (Fig. 1C ). Lysate-induced survival was accompanied by a significant reduction in viral load on the fourth day after challenge (Fig. 1D ).