Radiological, epidemiological and clinical patterns of pulmonary viral infections

•The clinical evaluation of a suspected pulmonary infection faces a diagnostic challenge due to the variety of possible viral organisms.•Certain radiographic and computed tomographic patterns may suggest a particular viral pathogen as the cause of the infection.•In most of the cases a definite diagnosis cannot be achieved on the basis of imaging features alone.•Interpretation of the radiological findings should always be made with awareness of epidemiology and clinical presentation.