In summary, our report of cancer patients highlights the severity of the Influenza A (H1N1) pandemic in this vulnerable population and the urgent need to establish specific protocols of care and management strategies designed to face this health care challenge. funding Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnoló gico (CNPq). The Tennessee Children's Respiratory Initiative: Objectives, design and recruitment results of a prospective cohort study investigating infant viral respiratory illness and the development of asthma and allergic diseases Background and objective: The ‘attack rate’ of asthma following viral lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) is about 3–4 fold higher than that of the general population; however, the majority of children who develop viral LRTI during infancy do not develop asthma, and asthma incidence has been observed to continuously decrease with age. Thus, we do not understand how viral LRTI either predispose or serve as a marker of children to develop asthma. The Tennessee Children's Respiratory Initiative has been established as a longitudinal prospective investigation of infants and their biological mothers. The primary goals are to investigate both the acute and the long‐term health consequences of varying severity and aetiology of clinically significant viral respiratory tract infections on early childhood outcomes. Methods: Over four respiratory viral seasons, 2004–2008, term, non‐low birth weight previously healthy infants and their biological mothers were enrolled during an infant's acute viral respiratory illness. Longitudinal follow up to age 6 years is ongoing. Results: This report describes the study objectives, design and recruitment results of the over 650 families enrolled in this longitudinal investigation. The Tennessee Children's Respiratory Initiative is additionally unique because it is designed in parallel with a large retrospective birth cohort of over 95 000 mother–infant dyads with similar objectives to investigate the role of respiratory viral infection severity and aetiology in the development of asthma. Conclusions: Future reports from this cohort will help to clarify the complex relationship between infant respiratory viral infection severity, aetiology, atopic predisposition and the subsequent development of early childhood asthma and atopic diseases. The Tennessee Children's Respiratory Initiative (TCRI) has been established as a longitudinal prospective investigation of term, non-low birth weight otherwise healthy infants and their biological mothers. The primary goals of the study are: (i) to investigate both the acute and the long-term health consequences of varying severity and aetiology of clinically significant viral respiratory tract infections on the outcomes of allergic rhinitis (AR) and early childhood asthma; and (ii) to identify the potentially modifiable factors that define children who are at greatest risk of developing asthma following infant respiratory viral infection. This study is unique, in that it was designed in parallel with our Tennessee Asthma Bronchiolitis Study (TABS), which is a retrospective birth cohort study of over 95 000 infants and their biological mothers similarly designed to elucidate the factors predisposing to childhood asthma and allergic 