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 daysVersus 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.
I read the complete story. Echinacea doesn't work for me or anyone I know. Period. The German studies are meaningless as they don't mention any actual results. They could be fictional studies for all I know, as they are just the usual anonymous "two large studies", like the "thousands of observers" or "a friend who I know that knows someone that ...". The supposed Pensylvania study mentions 95 employees drinking, probably, larger than normal quantities of a warm fluid and receiving more than mormal medical attention. No controll group, no mention of what consists of the time of illness, nothing scientific is mentiond. A placebo effect is as valid as an assumption as is the efectiveness of echinacea based on the information made available in the article.
Perhaps you should read the complete story more carefully?