The real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) Swine Flu Panel for detection of pandemic H1N1 influenza, developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta, GA, USA) and distributed to many laboratories in US and worldwide, is a reliable and timely method of diagnosing the pandemic strain [32, 33] . The viral culture, while the gold standard in influenza diagnostics, takes several days before the results are known [24] . The direct fluorescent antigen influenza test was recently reported to have a sensitivity of 93% compared with the rRT-PCR [34] , but the test requires considerable technical expertise in addition to a fluorescent microscope. The commonly used point-of-care rapid influenza tests provide results in less than 1 hour but are of only modest sensitivity for seasonal influenza viruses (63%) [35] and unacceptably insensitive for the detection of pandemic H1N1 influenza [35, 36] . Thus, for the majority of clinicians practicing during the 2009-2010 influenza pandemic, the access to a reliable and timely diagnostic modality may still be limited. As such, it is Chest x-rays of a patient with primary H1N1 (swine-origin influenza A) influenza pneumonia on day 1 (a) and day 6 (b) of hospitalization. reassuring to know that the patients presenting during influenza epidemics with both cough and fever within the first 48 hours of symptom onset are very likely to have actual influenza (79% positive predictive value) [37] .