Experimental studies show that pre-treatment with statins attenuates the severity of acute lung injury (ALI) following intestinal ischemia-reperfusion [27] and the inflammatory response to intravenous lipopolysaccharide challenge in human volunteers [28] . The combination of a statin and caffeine inhibits viral replication and attenuates lung injury in murine influenza models [29] . Population-based studies suggest that statins are associated with reduced inflammatory morbidity in critically ill patients receiving them [20] and reduced mortality in patients with influenza and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients [30] . Reviewing 3,921 hospitalized patients with laboratory confirmed influenza, of whom 1,019 were receiving a statin at the time of admission, Vandermeer and colleagues found that statin use was independently associated with a reduced risk of death (adjusted OR = 0.34, 95% CI: 0.16-0.70) in a multivariable logistic regression model [31] . The benefits of statins appear to be best established in patients receiving them prior to the onset of infection. Cohort studies report conflicting results on the ability of statins to attenuate organ dysfunction with Schmidt and colleagues finding that statins reduce mortality in critically ill patients with multiple organ dysfunction syndrome [32] and Kor et al reporting that statin use was not beneficial in resolving organ dysfunction [33] .