County gets $1.3 mil grant to study deadly bacteria

Yvonne Wingett
Arizona Republic
September 8, 2007

The county's health system will receive a $1.3 million grant from a federal health agency to study a nasty type of bacteria that cause staph infections resistant to common antibiotics.

The money will pay to study treatment possibilities for the bacteria, called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. It is one of a growing number of bacteria that have developed resistance to common antibiotics, and it is appearing more in hospitals and clinics nationally and in Maricopa County.

It starts as a skin infection and can cause pneumonia, loss of limbs and even death.

"A decade ago, you'd maybe get one out of 100 cases or so, and now, it's 95 percent or more people with complicated skin infections," said Dr. Frank LoVecchio, who has studied the bacteria for a decade.

Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that cases of the bacteria have climbed since 1974, and it is now believed to account for more than 63 percent of staph infections.

Maricopa Integrated Health System, which runs the county's health system, will use the grant money from the National Institutes of Health to pay for a five-year research project. They will study risk factors patients with MRSA have, such as genetics, diabetes and age.

"We think this is an epidemic," LoVecchio said. "Our ultimate goal is eradicating this disease. This grant allows us to continue the research we've been doing for a decade regarding MRSA."

Last updated on December 16, 2009