[Right Wing Assault]

FOUR? Four test animals is not a large enough sample size to mean anything. Couldn’t they afford a few dozen critters? Not good science.

[rmh47]

I think they mean four animals per test condition, i.e., each combination of humidity and temperature, which would require several dozen animals total.

That's still a very small sample size, but valid for a first investigational study, i.e., enough to justify further research.

[neverdem]

FOUR? Four test animals is not a large enough sample size to mean anything. Couldn’t they afford a few dozen critters? Not good science.

Results

"Twenty replicate experiments were performed in which all factors remained constant except for the RH and/or temperature inside the environmental chamber. Each experiment involved eight guinea pigs, and transmission under each set of conditions was assessed in duplicate."

--snip--

Analysis of expression levels of mediators of innate immunity.

"Guinea pigs were inoculated with 10³ PFU of Pan/99 virus intranasally and immediately housed under the appropriate conditions (5 °C or 20 °C and 35% RH). At days 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7 post-infection, three guinea pigs were killed and their nasal turbinates removed."

Read the study linked at the end of the article.