Taking aim at one of the nation’s most common - but understudied - diseases, a team of local investigators have launched a groundbreaking study to determine the effectiveness of treatments for antibiotic-resistant skin infections.

The investigators from LA BioMed, one of the nation’s leading independent nonprofit research institutes, have been awarded a $5.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for their study, Short and Long Term Outcomes of Doxycycline Versus Trimethoprim-Sulfamethoxazole for Skin and Soft Tissue Infections Treatment.

Mucormycosis is a drug-resistant fungal infection that attacks patients with weakened immune systems and those who have suffered significant trauma. The infection can be easily missed by physicians because it is so rare and reliable diagnostic assay is lacking. Even when correctly diagnosed, it is often far too late and after the infection has spreads rapidly to vital organs, making most therapies ineffective. The mortality rate for those infected with mucormycosis is around 50%, according to the U.S. centers for Disease Control and Prevention.