A New Year, A New Set of Anxieties

Some people — optimistic, well-adjusted, curious — pause just about now to wonder what marvelous ideas and inventions we will see in the upcoming year.

And then there's everyone else. "What's going to kill us now?" we wonder. "Some new drug-resistant, brain-eating bacteria? Teddy bears stuffed with rat poison? A huge environmental catastrophe Al Gore forgot to warn us about? And whatever happened to SARS? You know, it's supposed to start with a fever and I feel kind of warm and …"

Well, that's how some of us think, anyway. Whether or not you're in this group, here are some of the health scares that may keep you up in 2008. (But let's hope they don't, because a lack of sleep may turn out to be even more dangerous than you heard it was in '07.)

BIOFILMS: No, not the ones you were so happy to see in school because it meant a really easy day in biology class. Biofilms are filmy little bubbles that can encase bacteria and keep them safe from disinfectants, antibiotics — even the human immune system. What's more, they also keep the bacteria hidden from most traditional diagnostic tools, according to a microbiologist, Philip Onigman, of the biotech company Advandx.

"Biofilms have been around, but scientists are just beginning to notice them," he said, noting that the American Society of Microbiology is convening a new specialty conference on them. The films can coat anything from pipes to teeth to ventilator tubes, and their existence may explain why last year's big health news, the "superbug," has proved so hard to kill: Biofilms protect the bad guys.

TOXIC SENIORS: Toxic to themselves, that is. This new term applies to oldsters taking so many meds prescribed by so many doctors — as well as a slew of self-prescribed vitamins, over-the-counter drugs, and home remedies — that their systems become a toxic stew. With any luck, Medication Therapy Management will help. That's a new process that helps pharmacists see the whole picture and sort it out. But if you thought the lines at Duane Reade were long already …

THE NEW DRUG PROBLEM: Not illegal drugs. Legal ones, manufactured outside America. "In many of these countries, the understanding of how one needs to manage production or development of a drug is terribly immature," a partner at the global consulting firm PTRM, Chris Albani, said. Until those countries go through "the pain of the many mistakes" that drove America to create the Food and Drug Administration, Mr. Albani said, they may be filling our pill bottles with some scary stuff. Think dog food from China. Now think heart medicine.

OVER-PERKINESS: Our country is crazed on caffeine. Two of the three people ahead of me at Starbucks the other day were ordering "quads" — drinks with four shots of espresso in them. This is not to mention the vodka, water, and now even oatmeal available in caffeinated form. "In a regular cup of coffee there could be 40–120 milligrams of caffeine," a spokesman for the Caffeine Awareness Alliance, Tom Ackerman, said. "But a Starbucks Venti could have 420," he said. And then there are the energy drinks, constantly upping the ante. Are our bodies ready for this much of a jolt? Mr. Ackerman says no, and he may have a point. Think of our mounting sleep problems. Speaking of which …

SLEEP, MY CHILD: Last year, sleep suddenly became big news thanks to reports highlighting the potential health consequences of long-term (previously macho) sleep deprivation. This coming year, however, we'll hear more about the problem during pregnancy. "We know when you're pregnant, you'd appreciate if you weren't getting enough air or good food or water. Well sleep is another basic physiological need," the medical director of the Sleep for Life clinic in New Jersey, Carol Ash, said. Growth hormone is secreted during sleep and fetuses need to grow, so expect expecting mothers to start worrying about shut-eye very soon.

BAD LAB NEWS: Finally, a shortage of lab technicians looms. These are the folks who run the tests doctors use to make their diagnoses, and we may be 40,000 short, according to industry statistics. "Without new laboratorians entering our field, the future is grim," the executive vice president of the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science, Elissa Passiment, said. The industry is doing a big recruitment push, but it remains to be seen how long your petri dish sits on the shelf.

With any luck it will have been screened — and given a thumbs up — by this time next year. That way you can sit back and start worrying about 2009.

lskenazy@yahoo.com