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This confirms my experience with echinacea. It never worked for me. I don't know anyone that it has worked for. Of those who once claimed it worked, I have noticed that they quit using it over the years and suffer colds like most other people. I suspect they placebo effect and a bit of self delusion was the reason for the early claims they mad that it would work. There is one herbal extract that I have found that actually does work . It does everything echinacea, goldenseal and all the others combined are claimed to do. It works for me every time, whether I am just feeling the first faint signs of a cold or flu or whether, through negligence, I have developed a full fledged case. Works for whatever it is that causes a sudden onset of a severe sore throat as well. It usually takes no more than a few hours to feel a benefit and almost always overnight on anything, no matter how far advanced.

I might add that I haven't been to a medical doctor in over 30 years so my immune and other systems are probably much, much stronger that those who constantly bomb their systems with antibiotics and other pharmacia from an MD. I don't know if it would work for everyone, although everyone I know that has actually tried it has gotten similar results.

When you say this confirms your own few experiences you should be more careful to read the complete story:

At least two large studies in Germany concluded the herb was safe and effective for treating cold symptoms. And a 1999 study of 95 employees at a Pennsylvania nursing home found that drinking four to five cups of echinacea tea at the onset of a cold, followed by at least a cup a day, diminished symptoms and could cut the time of illness from about 14 days to about 4 days

Versus your own anecdotal remembrance and the small (73 students given the remedy) and suspect Wisconsin study. I don't think college students are a good sample of reactions to very many drugs in the general population.