Forty-five patients (90%) had lower respiratory tract specimens sent for bacterial cultures. The 5 patients without these specimens were children who had difficulty in producing respiratory secretions, however, they appeared generally well with no evidence of pneumonia. Blood cultures were performed in 23 patients (46%) and Mycoplasma pneumoniae serology in 27 patients (54%). Of the 50 H1N1 patients, 17 (34%) were coinfected with a second respiratory pathogen; 14 (28%) bacterial and only 3 (6%) viral. Mycoplasma pneumoniae (n = 5) was the commonest bacterial coinfection followed by Staphylococcus aureus (n = 3), Klebsiella pneumoniae (n = 2), Streptococcus pneumoniae (n = 2), Moraxella catarrhalis (n = 1), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n = 1), Streptococcus pyogenes (n = 1) and Streptococcus agalactiae (n = 1). Two patients had dual infection; M.pneumoniae/S.agalactiae and S.pneumoniae/M.catarrhalis respectively. The sites for isolation of 9 non-Mycoplasma bacteria were blood (2), sputum (3), nasopharyngeal aspirate (3) and bronchoalveolar lavage (2). The 3 virus detected were parainfluenza; these 3 patients presented with influenza-like illness with no deterioration of clinical findings.