After nearly losing her husband to a dangerous hospital-acquired staph infection, Mary Petty wants to lift the "veil of secrecy" shrouding methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.

Those infected with the difficult-to-treat bug are often too ashamed or embarrassed to talk about it, said Petty, whose husband, James, was hospitalized with a raging infection after making what appeared to be a full recovery from aortic heart valve surgery in September 2005.

That's why on Friday -- World MRSA Day -- Petty is holding a candlelight remembrance event for survivors and their loved ones on the south steps of the Utah Capitol from 7 to 8 p.m. Petty wants to urge both patients and health care providers to be proactive in preventing its spread.

"It has been called a pandemic," she said, "but it's one of those silent pandemics we don't hear much about."

The antibiotic-resistant bacteria tends to attack patients who have a weak immune system or have undergone an invasive medical procedure. Easily spread and difficult to treat, MRSA can trigger infections such as boils and septicemia, and can prolong patients' hospital stay or increase their risk of death.

Petty's husband, James -- whose symptoms included fatigue; flulike symptoms; and small black dots on his feet, head and hands -- was hospitalized about a week after his surgery.

Stricken with septicemia, he remained dangerously ill for 10 days as doctors tried antibiotics and other treatments. A diabetic, he went into kidney failure; the infection also started to damage his heart.

As a last-ditch effort before performing another open-heart surgery, his doctors aggressively treated him with Daptomycin. The drug halted MRSA's spread, giving his body an opportunity to fight it off.

Even after the bacteria were gone, however, James Petty faced further surgery and an uphill battle to his complete recovery. "I'm just amazed that anyone lives," Mary Petty said. "Everybody manifests differently."

In an October and November 2006 survey, 46 out of every 1,000 patients were either infected or colonized with MRSA. That rate, reported by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, was eight and 11 times greater than previous MRSA estimates.

In the same year -- also the last year Utah collected MRSA data -- there were 4,904 Utah cases, making it the second most common reportable communicable disease, according to the state Department of Health.

As part of a national effort to track and reduce infections, three Utah hospitals -- Ogden Regional, University Hospital and Uintah Basin Medical Center in Roosevelt -- have agreed to report their MRSA infection rates to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Mary Petty hopes Utahns will come together to share their stories and help raise awareness.

"We need to recognize there are risks," she said, "and we need to go in [to the hospital] informed."

lrosetta@sltrib.com