The clinical effects of pneumonia have been linked to increased risk of cardiovascular disease up to 10-year follow-up16 and it is likely that cases infected via respiratory virus outbreaks will experience similar adverse outcomes. Therapeutic use of corticosteroids further augments the possibility of adverse cardiovascular events. However, long-term follow-up data concerning the survivors of respiratory virus epidemics are scarce. Lipid metabolism remained disrupted 12 years after clinical recovery in a metabolomic study amongst 25 SARS survivors,17 whereas cardiac abnormalities observed during hospitalisation in eight patients with H7N9 influenza returned to normal at 1-year follow-up.