MSU entomomologist Richard Merritt and a group of children who live in a Ghanian village where Merritt conducts research on a tropical disease known as Buruli ulcer.  Photo by Eric Benbow.

Darlene and Jim McCord. Darlene McCord is the founder of the McCord Research Foundation which recently awarded a grant to MSU professor Richard Merritt. He will use the funds to study a tropical disease known as Buruli ulcer. Photo courtesy of the McCord Research Foundation.

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EAST LANSING, Mich. — A Michigan State University researcher who studies the causes and transmission routes of a tropical disease known as Buruli ulcer is also turning his attention to the social aspects of the disease and, in particular, how the stigma of it affects the lives of thousands of people – work that is funded through a grant from the McCord Research Foundation.

Entomology professor Richard Merritt will use a portion of a $143,000 grant to develop education and family support programs aimed at teaching families how to identify and seek medical intervention for the ulcer in its early stages.

“Buruli ulcer is a devastating disease affecting thousands of children throughout West Africa, particularly in Ghana,” Merritt said. “The McCord Research Foundation’s generous grant will help to support research into how this horrific disease is transmitted. It also will allow us to work with staff in the country itself to establish an education program assisting parents to identify the early presence of the ulcer in their children and help support education for the children while they are in the hospital.

“We’re hoping to eliminate the stigma associated with Buruli ulcer and get families to take action early, reducing the often painful suffering and isolation that goes along with contracting the disease.”

The bacteria responsible for Buruli ulcer - Myocobacterium ulcerans - is a genetic cousin to the bacteria that causes leprosy and tuberculosis. As with leprosy, patients with Buruli ulcer can develop painful and unattractive sores on their bodies that can eventually cripple and even kill them. 

More common in children than adults – about 70 percent of those with the disease are younger than 15 years old – Buruli ulcer mainly affects children in poor, rural areas. If left untreated, the ulcer can spread and painful scar tissue develops.

The disease also destroys the social and emotional lives of school-age children because they are isolated from family and friends.  Most aren’t even allowed to attend school due to their condition.

The McCord Research Foundation grant enhances the funding provided by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation Emerging Infectious Disease section to conduct a five-year study investigating possible links among biting aquatic insects, water quality, landscape and Buruli ulcer transmission in Ghana. The NIH grant was awarded to MSU, with a subcontract awarded to the University of Tennessee.

“We are honored to fund the excellent work Dr. Merritt and his team are undertaking with regard to Buruli ulcer,” said the foundation’s founder Darlene McCord. “This disease ruins entire families’ lives, and the more we know about it, the better chance we have of stopping it.

“I have already invested my own research energy into creating a topical wound care product that can effectively treat and heal the ulcer once it’s established. My hope is that my treatment will become obsolete, and that no child will have to suffer the physical and social hardship associated with contracting Buruli ulcer.”

“The McCord Research Foundation grant will help ensure that Dr. Merritt, his students and other researchers have the resources needed to continue their work to eradicate Buruli ulcer,” said Jeffrey Armstrong, dean of MSU’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. “This partnership between MSU and the McCord Research Foundation will have a tremendous impact on the quality of life in communities throughout Africa. It represents how universities and foundations can work together to effectively address a health crisis in ways that no one organization can do alone.”

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The Merritt Aquatic Entomology Lab employs a group of undergraduate and graduate students, as well as postdoctoral and research associates, who study and research the ecology of aquatic insects under the direction of Richard Merritt. The lab functions under MSU’s Department of Entomology, where Merritt recently served as chairperson from 2002 to 2008. Mollie McIntosh, a postdoctoral research associate, and Ryan Kimbirauskas, a doctoral student, are members of Merritt’s team and committed to researching Buruli ulcer.

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Established in 2008, the McCord Research Foundation is the philanthropic arm of McCord Research, supporting programs and causes close to the heart of McCord Research founder, Darlene McCord. The foundation currently funds activities in three areas: athletics at the University of Iowa; research fellowships in the University of Iowa Biosciences Department; and independent labs working on researching Buruli ulcer. The foundation’s unique “Pennies Have Power” program utilizes the fundraising skills of children helping children, by empowering grade-schoolers to raise money to help Ghanaian children suffering with Buruli ulcer. To find out more about how your school or group can get involved with “Pennies Have Power,” go to www.mccordresearch.com.

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