Doctors Pross, Bradford, and Krueger comment on these two letters as follows:
We appreciate the comments of Dr. Shaw and Dr. Mortimer. The question of a relationship between salicylates and Reye's syndrome has been raised by various authors.1-3 Utian reported 14 patients with this syndrome in which "several" had received aspirin, but serum salicylate levels were never more than "mild to moderately elevated." Norman,3 in describing 21 cases measured salicylate levels in 10 patients and all were below 25 mg/100 ml.