University part of CDC funding to study disease

The University is among four institutions that will receive grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct research into community-associated methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or CA-MRSA.

Approximately $3 million will be distributed to the institutions over the next three years to examine such issues as the bacteria’s genetic characteristics, characteristics of patients’ illnesses and outcomes, and the mechanisms of infection and disease.

“CDC is concerned about the increasing reports of community-associated MRSA. Controlling the spread of MRSA is a high priority in our efforts to prevent antimicrobial resistance. We are committed to supporting new applied research to the study of MRSA in the community, and we are excited to be able to fund these grants,” said CDC director Julie Gerberding.

The grant recipients, which include Columbia University, Harbor-UCLA Research & Education Institute and the University of California at San Francisco, will assemble groups of investigators with the expertise to address the key clinical and public health questions surrounding the spread of the disease. They will collect data to help define risk factors for infection and methods of treatment.

Investigators from the University will study the clinical, epidemiological and molecular characteristics of CA-MRSA in Chicago; Bethel, AK; Dallas; and Taiwan. Isolates of MRSA will be analyzed using a variety of molecular techniques and assessed for virulence.

Robert Daum, Professor in Pediatrics and Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, is the principal investigator for the University’s project, titled Community-Associated MRSA.

For more information about community-associated MRSA, visit CDC’s web site at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/hip/ARESIST/mrsa_comm_faq.htm.