The results of our study are in contrast to those of another study [37] that did not disclose any difference in nTREM-1 expression between patients with and without a bacterial lung infection probably due to the small number of patients included in that former study. El Sohl et al [38] reported elevated alveolar levels of sTREM-1 in pulmonary aspiration syndromes, but not in serum. However, serial plasma sTREM-1 levels were not obtained and the possibility that plasma levels might rise on subsequent days cannot be excluded.