using an herbal formula against those using no agent (88) but results were questioned because workers given the herbal formula knew that they were taking the 'active' treatment. While these trials recruited thousands of patients, we suggest that patient numbers could be kept relatively small in the first instance (20 patients per group) if, in addition to patients being unaware of the activity of the treatment they are given, daily blood samples are taken to measure serum levels of cytokines, as for the in vitro assays described above. One milliliter of blood would provide enough serum to analyze cytokine levels, and daily measurements on the same individual would allow for paired statistical analysis. The appropriate end-point would be convalescence, but obviously if symptoms worsened with treatment (or control) then standard interventions should immediately take place. These basic but necessary experiments could pave the way towards viable, low cost alternatives to planned influenza pandemic treatments-approximately $8 for a fortnight's treatment (88) . Figure 2 summarizes the possible inflammation-reducing effects of traditional Chinese medicines (e.g. A. sinensis, S. miltiorrhiza and glycyrrhizin), a natural agent (biochanin A), and pharmaceutical interventions (e.g. statins, fibrates), during influenza.