Effectiveness of Echinacea In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of children, echinacea was tested as a treatment for upper respiratory infections in children.

“Days of fever” was one criterion used to measure effects. Among 337 children treated with echinacea, the mean number of days with fever was 0.81, with a standard deviation of 1.50€days. Among 370 children given a placebo, the mean number of days with fever was 0.64 with a standard deviation of 1.16 days (based on data from “Efficacy and Safety of Echinacea in Treating Upper Respiratory Tract Infections in Children,” by Taylor et al., Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 290, No. 21). Use a 0.05 significance level to test the claim that echinacea affects the number of days with fever. Based on these results, does echinacea appear to be effective?