The initial chest radiographs of 31 patients with laboratory-proved pneumonia were evaluated by a panel of 6 radiologists who had no prior knowledge of the clinical data. No statistical reliability was found for distinguishing bacterial from nonbacterial pneumonia. Radiographic diagnoses were 67% accurate for the 16 cases of bacterial pneumonia, and 65% accurate for the 9 viral cases. Six cases of Mycoplasma pneumonia were diagnosed as nonbacterial 19% of the time, and as "bacterial pneumonia" 81% of the time.

A bivalent type A inactivated influenza virus vaccine containing both sets of H3N2 and Hsw1N1 antigens was given to patients with chronic renal failure and to control subjects. The patients were divided into an azotemic group in whom dialysis was not yet required and a hemodialyzed group. Hemagglutination-inhibition (HI) antibody responses were measured at time intervals of 1,3, and 4 weeks after vaccination. We found that the mean postvaccination HI titers against both sets of antigens in the patients as a group did not differ significantly from those found in the control subjects as a group. The proportion of responders showing a fourfold or greater increase in post-vaccination antibody responses over prevaccination antibody values for either set of antigens was similar in both groups of patients and the group of control subjects. In general, an inverse correlation was found between prevaccination antibody levels and postvaccination antibody responses in both patients and control subjects. The only exception to this trend was the response of two of the azotemic patients to the H3N2 antigens who failed to respond despite low prevaccination antibody levels. These were the patients with the highest serum creatinine values.

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