fire danger. alison. >> karen maginnis, thanks. i'll see you back here at the top of the hour. "dr. sanjay gupta md" starts right now. thanks for joining us. you may have heard about a deadly new flu strain in china. i'll tell you what you need to know and investigate whether the united states is ready to handle an outbreak. the head of the cdc will join us and living longer with fish oil. one of the few supplements i regularly take and the best foods to eat and also what to avoid. let's get started. first i want to show you something truly remarkable. a bionic limb run by a household technology -- an iphone. we'll get a demonstration in a moment. first i want to introduce you to

the world's first recipient of these hands. a young father who lost the use of his hands after being electrocuted. march 1, 2008. that was the day jason's life changed. the husband and young father was riding his four-wheeler when he came in contact with a downed powerline. next thing he remembers, waking up in the hospital three days later. he was alive but both of his hands were gone. they had to be amputated. he did ptd let that new reality get him down. his focus immediately, making life with prosthetics as normal as possible. five years now after the accident, he is embracing another first. he is the first double hand amputee in the world to receive prosthetic hands that could be controlled with a mobile application.

this is part of a new wave in prosthetic technology. the ilimb ultrarevolution are available to the masses. the uk base developers say it's the closest thing to a real human hand. unlike most conventional prosthetics, it has five individually powered fingers, including a fully rotatable thumb. the new app technology allows for 24 grip patterns, movements many of us take for granted like this. a tripod grip to pick up a pen. the skin over the prosthesis helps double amputees like jason use the app and he can even customize grip patterns to use tools like his electronic drill. jason joins us now. welcome to the show. >> thank you very much. >> incredible story. i'm glad you're doing well. do you have pain at all or are you recovered? >> i'm recovered. >> i usually shake my guests

hands and take a look at that. this is pretty incredible. look around the back over here. this is a true hand shake. the fingers coming all the way around. incredible technology and i know you literally have gotten this technology this week. how is it going? what is your impression? >> you know, i love it. these have motorized thumbs. it has an app that comes with it so you can do several different grasp patterns. it gives me the ability to do more things that i want to do. >> looks like it takes full advantage of lots of, we take for granted how much dexterity you have in your fingers. for sake of reference, these are two of your other hands, as well, over here. i think you were explaining that this this basically has the pinch here between this. that's basically it. you call this the working hand. it opens up.

doesn't do much more than that. >> that's it. >> this is the app here. do you mind if i take a look? >> no. >> you hold this up and, let's see here. >> let's see here. so if i want to -- you have -- >> let me make sure. >> we'll have you control it a little bit to start. >> i have to use this. >> you're picking up a stylus. is that something you could have done before? >> no. >> that's pretty fine movement there. >> so i would get this into a grip form i wanted. close down on it. i have wrist rotators to rotate all the way around. >> you're doing this on your own. your hand goes all the way around. okay. >> these also have different -- there are 24 different grip patterns. you can also customize one also. so here is one i have

customized. i don't know if you know what that is. that's for louisville. >> as a michigan guy, i know it too well. >> you can play with it if you would like. >> all right. since you have louisville right on there, i love it. let's see if i can find some. we have candies here on the set. let me see if i can find one to help you open it up. >> you put it in that mode. i have wrist flexion. so i can flex it. i can pick up something that small. >> that's amazing. what is it like for you to be able to do that? how big a deal? you got the app. you have fine dexterity. >> a lot of things you take for granted in life. to pick up something small as this or, for instance, i have kids. to be able to hold my kids hands

again is a lot holder because this forms to their hand. in my eyes that's huge for me. it's definitely interesting how you can do small things instead of asking somebody else to do it for me. >> thanks for joining us. >> thank you. next up, bird flu. we know it's killing people in china. the head of our centers for disease control is worried about it. we asked him to come by and explain what's happening. and it's been in the closet for 12 weeks! unbelievable! unstopables! follow jimmy on youtube. 8% every 10 years.age 40, we can start losing muscle -- unstopables! wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. keeps you from getting soft.

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it started like this. on the last day of march, three people hundreds of miles apart sick with a strain of flu that had never infected people more. in barely a week, more than two dozen people were sick, a third of them died. hundreds of health officials around the world went into scramble mode. the scenes are eerie. masks for protection. spraying to kill an unseen danger. >> the public is concerned about the information regarding those in close contact with those infected. we are tracing many close

contacts and they are all under strict medical observation. >> this time the danger is h7n9 named after the key proteins that make up the virus. it is a known type of bird flu, but never before has it infected people. something in the virus has changed. something is different. a quick explanation is in order here. there are different strains of the flu virus. they mutate constantly. that's why we need a different shot every year. the virus changes by adding new genes and dropping old ones. the natural home for influenza is birds especially poultry. it also infects mammals like pigs and also people. the virus is constantly adapting to different hosts. remember the 2009 pandemic, h1n1, that originated in mexico. more often than not new flu strains arrived in southeast asia because there is a concentration of poultry, wild birds, pigs and people. all living in close proximity. >> translator: there is a lot we

don't know about the virus and we are actively tracing its origin. >> testing has found the h7n9 virus in chickens and pigeons. chinese authorities are killing chickens and uother birds as a safety precaution. questions remain including a big one. could the virus be passing from person to person? so far the answer seems to be no. >> there has been no person-to-person transmission and no link between any of the cases so far. >> joining me from the cdc campus is the director of the cdc tom friedan. thanks for joining us, doctor. appreciate it. we have been talking about the strain of flu. why are you so concerned about it? >> on the one hand, we're reassured because there is no person-to-person transmission documented yet. great collaboration with the

chinese authorities and get more prepared for strains of flu or other pandemics. it's a strain of influenza that causes severe disease. it doesn't seem to cause disease in the birds. so we can't identify it in birds and stop it in the animal hosts. it does have some aspects that suggest it could evolve into something that can spread from person to person. >> should people in the united states be concerned? >> there is nothing different that the average person in this country needs to do. there is a lot we are doing to make sure we do everything in our power to be as prepared as possible for every scenario that could happen. that's what we are doing day in, day out. >> putting it all together your level of concern when you compare it to previous novel viruses, how would you rate this? >> we are tracking it closely. we know that influenza can cause an enormous amount of suffering

and dislocation. this strain seems severe. we are working very closely and doing everything we can to be prepared. one thing we are looking forward to more in the future is to go deep into the sequence and understand better what all of the different genetic changes mean. we have new technologies that are exciting and will allow us to do it better than ever. >> why don't you give us an idea of what it means. you have examples of the older technology and the newer. what can you do now that you couldn't do then? >> when i began at cdc we had begun looking that genome of different microbes. we had things like this. they gave you a blurry sense of whether organisms were the same or different. they took weeks. you often had to compare them by hand. it was very enact. today we have things like this. this is a way of sequencing an

entire genome in just a few hours. in fact, the genome of more than one organism in a few hours. genome of more than one organism in a few hours. putting it into the computer, putting the puzzle pieces together and figure out if it's connected or evolving to better adapt to the human host. so we are beginning to do this for h7 and other organisms. it opens a new way to protect americans better by finding threats sooner, stopping them quicker. >> i'm glad you're on the job. i know we'll be talking a lot in the days and weeks to come. thank you. >> thank you very much. still ahead, perhaps the most convincing evidence that eating fish can lead to a eating fish can lead to a longer, healthier life. that'll save the day. ♪ so will bounty select-a-size. it's the smaller powerful sheet.

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got some fish for life today. a new study found older adults who eat fish reduce their risk of dying from heart disease by more than 27%. a lot of the credit, they say, goes to omega-3 fatty acids. one of only 200 nutrition specialists in the entire country. welcome back to the show. we talked about this quite a bit. i want to jump in with this. you have been on several times talking about the benefits of omega-3s but some of the studies are conflicting. what makes this one different? >> i think what's interesting about the study is first of all it was done in healthy older people.

so this is not people who are sick with heart disease. it's just like you and i -- healthy. we are not older yet. secondly they were not taking fish oil supplements. this looks just at fish intake. most importantly, researchers measured blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids instead of relying on dietary recall. this is a much more accurate indication of how many omega-3 fatty acids they are consuming on a regular basis. >> fascinating. you're right. most of the studies are done by questionnaires. it's hard to remember what you had yesterday let alone two weeks ago. >> absolutely. >> according to the study people with the highest levels of omega-3s in the blood did the best. they lived two years longer and it comes back to the question. how much should you be getting and the best way to get it? >> that's a great question. based on this study, the researchers think that sweet spot, so the benefits are most when somebody goes from no consumption up to 400 milligrams.

this is relatively modest doses. the average american takes in about 150 milligrams a day. we know we need to go up, but you don't necessarily need to super dose like our tendency is when anything is good for us. >> so 400. is there a way to put that into the context of food? in this study they were talking about eating fish as opposed to supplements. >> 400 milligrams is on average two servings of fish a week. the american heart association is right on track with their recommendations for eating fish at least twice a week. >> do you think some of this is because if you eat fish you are not eating, you know, other things that could be problematic, red meat and things like that? >> well, it's interesting. they looked at confounding variables, so other explanations. it really does seem to be a benefit of omega-3 fatty acids. by looking specifically at the

omega 3 fatty acids in the blood they could attribute those benefits. i think people who tend to eat the most fish have a healthier lifestyle. the people in the study did seem to be healthier which is even cooler. if we could get healthier people living 2.2 years lock longer that's a win in my book. >> i love having you on. we talked about this last time. fish oil is one of the few things i take. there is a lot of studies out there. this is another one that offers more benefits. thanks for joining us. >> me too, by the way. >> thanks. you may not know this but this week marks the 71st anniversary of the death march that followed one of the worst military defeats in history. few survivors are alive today. lester tenney lived to tell the story but has turned his tragedy into joy for others. lester along with his wife and friends are packing boxes to

ship over seas. he's the founder of care packages from home, a volunteer organization that sends goodies to servicemen and women in iraq and afghanistan. since it began five and a half years ago te eh and his buddies shipped socks, deodorant, snacks, holiday items such as peeps to 150,000 troops. >> we have zero employees. we have zero payroll. we have zero expenses. every dime we collect goes to the troops in the way of care packages. >> although it's labor of love he has a more personal reason. back in 1940 he enlisted in the national guard. he was then transferred to the philippines. then japan attacked pearl harbor. one day later japan invaded the philippines. the fighting became so one-sided the u.s. had to surrender. and one of the worst episodes in

u.s. military history began, american soldiers were forced to march to a p.o.w. camp 80 plus miles away in 100 degree heat with no food or water. >> it was called the baton death march not just because of how many died, but because the way they died. >> some men were decapitated. others speared with bayonets. many were buried alive because they were too weak to march. tenny himself carries a scar from being slashed with a samurai sword and taking a bayonet in the leg. >> if you stopped, you were killed. if you had to defecate, you were killed. if you just couldn't take another step, you were killed. they killed you for no reason except for the fact you did not move. the whole goal was to number one, stay on your feet. number two, keep moving. >> unlike many of his buddies, tenny made it to that concentration camp. because he was strong, his captors eventually shipped him to work in the japanese coal mines where he remained until

world war ii ended on august 15, 1945. >> that was a feeling of freedom that you can't ever describe. >> after the war, tenny went to college. he became a professor of economics. and he wrote a book about his experiences. after he left teaching, he and his wife moved to the retirement community near la jolla, california. he never stopped thinking about his days of war, the loneliness, the fear, that's one of the reasons he started sending packages to the troops. to let them know that someone somewhere is thinking about them. >> when i send a box, i put my name in it. do they know where i've been? maybe they do, maybe they don't. but the one thing they do know, they do know that we care. >> at 92 now, lester tenney is one of the few remaining survivors of the baton death march. and when asked how he survived, his answer is inspiring. >> i think my first thought

after that was i can't die because the japanese want to kill me and they're working hard to do it. and if i die, then they win. and i just was making sure that they did not win. >> just an incredible story. and obviously doing so much good now for our troops who are still overseas. lester tenney there. a check of top stories ten minutes away, but first chasing life, learning how to put the right foot guard. forward with the spark miles card from capital one,

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we're back with sjmd. more than 20,000 runners will take to the streets monday for the boston marathon. it's inspiring stuff, but it's also daunting. i get this question all the time. they say a marathon is likely not in my future, but how do i start to run? i say keep two important things in mind. get a good pair of shoes, and start off slowly to prevent injury. running shoes are different from your everyday sneakers. you're going to need that support to get the real exercise. also, everyone's foot is going to be a little different. go to a running store and get fitted properly, at least that first time. then when you hit the road, again, start slowly. good approach is to alternate running and walking. do a few minutes at a time. over time you can build up to running continuously. remember, you're in it hopefully for the long run. and jeff galo way tweeted this this week, the single reason why