being able to go person to person and as you know that's what you worry about for a strain with pandemic potentialo i'm glad they're jumping on this, glad cdc is working on vaccines and diagnostic kits because you never know which virus makes that turn and become very dangerous and which one is just going to go away. >> things can be lethal, they can kill people easily. trance missible is the other thing where they spread from person to person and worries you the most? >> yeah. not having any community in the population. so if it's -- if it's a new strain that people haven't seen before, you run the risk of introducing it to spread like wild fire and that's what you worry about. it's transmissible. that's the big concern. >> people paying attention to this should really keep that you are ears open for if we hear that the transmissability -- >> that's right. people now, in america, no. but traveler who is are going to china? yeah. they have to pay attention and doctors need to ask about travel. if someone's sick, wrfb you been? >> are you still surprised by things? the medicine is a constantly evol

that's what you worry about for a strain that has pandemic potential.the cdc is working on vaccines and diagnostic kits because you never know at this point which virus will make the turn and become dangerous and which one is going to go away. >> the things can be lethal. they can kill people easily, transmissable is the other thing where they spread from person-to-person. in fact, combination of things that worries you the most? >> and not having any immunity in the population. so if it's a new strain people haven't seen before, then you run that risk if you introduce it it's going to spread like wildfire. that's what you worry about. if it makes the change so it's transmissable, that's the big concern. >> people paying attention to this should keep their ears open for it if we hear that transmissability. >> that's right. travelers who are going to china, yeah, they have to pay attention. and doctors need to ask about travel. if someone's sick, where have you been? it's a simple question. >> medicine is a constantly evolving field. we're always doing o

. >> this virus has the potential to cause severe pandemics. >> in china, the virus was first identifiedn late march. 17 people died . that is one in five. the you have pneumonia and septic shock and kidney failure. but tests found it is sentencative to tamu flu and caught and treated early patients can recovery. >> we know the drugs will work but a concern because there is still a lot we don't know about the virus. >> the race is on to develop a vaccine . vaccines for similar strains . the need for protection is urgeent . i do have a greater level of concern about the virus than other viruses that we have seen in the past. >> there may have been limited human to human transmission. 40 percent of the patients had no direct contact with poultry. a four year old boy tested positive for the virus and was not sick. scientist may have no idea how many people infected. bret? >> bret: a medical assistant who worked with a philadelphia abortion doctor said she gavan thesia and changed dosages. she is charged with the over dose death along with the killings of 7 babies born alive. president obama

that could potentially create a pandemic, and that, dr. joe, says could be a real problem.he is. >> there's three things that we need for a pandemic. first, a new flu virus we don't have immunity to. that's the case here. second, we need a virus that infects humans and causes disease. that's the case here. the third component is we need official sustained human to human spread, and we don't have that yet certainly. >> this is why it's a concern. if you look at the benchmark for all flus, the spanish flu, 50 million people died. the case fatality rate was one in 50 people who got sick died. one in 50. the case faye thatty raid with this is one in five. if this gets out and becomes widely contagious, that's real, real trouble. lori: unsettling. how close, john, are doctors to coming up with a vaccine? reports, right, it could be drug resis tent. where are we? >> racing to try to create a vaccine, working up vaccines, making progress, but the problem is they don't know how effective it will be, and vaccines are months away. to the idea of resistance, h7n9 is resistant to the e

a number of important influenza diagnostics to help us address the potential of a pandemic threat asll as seasonal flu. we've also readied a number of products for use in an emergency. they're not fully approved but can be used as part of an emergency use authorization when there is a public health crisis including a drug to treat smallpox and a smallpox vaccine. so these are very important advances. and with respect to the three new drug approvals that i mentioned, they have actually all included a pediatric indication which has been a serious gap in some of the public health preparedness and medical countermeasure availability opportunities in the past. so it's an area of, i think, real progress that will make a difference to the american people. >> yeah. my question was going to be geared toward children, and you've answered that one. i'm pleased to see that we're moving forward with that and, hopefully, we can strongly support you in that. um, one of the questions that comes up is the backlog on sunscreen. we -- my brother-in-law was a surfer, very active guy who got melanoma and

real difference, both in response to a potential biological threat and also disease and a number of important influenza diagnostics to help us deal with a pandemichreat as well as seasonal fluke. when there is a public health crisis, to treat smallpox and the smallpox vaccine. there is a pediatric indication -- and a serious gap in the this iseasure ability, an area of -- real progress that will make a difference. >> this will be pressured -- is so pleased to see that we are moving forward with that, and hopefully we can strongly support you in that. one other question that comes up is the backlog on sunscreen. -- my brother law welaw died in our house, went through all of the suffering that families go through, and it would shock me that we have not done any new sunscreen approvals for a number of years, decades. are a pending sunscreen applications and none of them have yet been approved. what is taking so long? >> we have made some progress on issues of labeling, and other aspects of assessing safety, and indications for the use of sunscreen. this issue is a priority for and we're trying to move forward with respect to the availability and th