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...hat has typically been attributed to aqueous extracts of Echinacea. Sharma et al. [22] have shown that Echinforce®, a standardized ethanol extract prepared from fresh E. purpurea roots, can suppress cytokine and chemokine production from human blood monocytes stimulated by respiratory viruses. Furthermore, a number of studies with ethanolic Echinacea extracts or alkylamides from Echinaceapreparations have shown that they can inhibit the LPS-induced production of TNF-α, IL-1, IL-6, and IL-8 cytokines and chemokines from human monocytes/macrophages and from macrophage-like cell lines [23],[24], [25] and [26]. The alkylamides appear to mediate these effects through both cannabinoid receptor (CB)-dependent and CB-independent mechanisms [24] and [26]. In this investigation, we focused on the virus influenza A. Over 30,000 Americans die annually from infections with influenza A, and new treatments are clearly necessary. Many of the symptoms and pathology associated with this disease, including; fever [27], anorexia [28], nasal discharge [29], and pain [30] are dependent on the production of a “storm” of cytokines, chemokines, and inflammatory lipids. Given the previous studies suggesting ant...