Australia approves vaccine to protect koalas from chlamydia

"A vaccine has been approved to help protect koalas against chlamydia, a measure researchers are hailing as a world-first in fighting the disease that is a leading cause of death for the beloved marsupials."

"Researchers at the University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC) in Australia said Wednesday it took more than 10 years to develop a single-dose vaccine that does not require a booster that it hopes will aid in "reducing the rapid, devastating spread of this disease." "Some individual colonies are edging closer to local extinction every day, particularly in South East Queensland and New South Wales, where infection rates within populations are often around 50 percent and in some cases can reach as high as 70 percent," Peter Timms, a microbiology professor at the university who led the research team, said in a statement."

"Chlamydia in koalas can cause blindness and lead them to starve to death because they cannot locate trees to climb for food, according to Koala Conservation Australia. It can also cause infertility and damage a koala's bladder to the point where the inner wall becomes inflamed and the marsupial passes blood, the organization said. The disease occurs in koalas multiple ways, including through mating, infected discharges and at birth. Baby koalas, known as joeys, can also catch chlamydia by eating pap, a substance produced by a mother that's similar to feces, if their mother is infected."

A single-dose vaccine that does not require a booster has been approved to protect koalas against chlamydia. Development at the University of the Sunshine Coast took more than 10 years and aims to reduce the disease's rapid, devastating spread. Infection rates in some South East Queensland and New South Wales populations often reach around 50 percent and can be as high as 70 percent, pushing colonies toward local extinction. Chlamydia can cause blindness, starvation by preventing tree climbing, infertility, and severe bladder inflammation leading to blood in urine. Transmission occurs through mating, infected discharges, birth, and joeys can contract infection via pap. Antibiotic treatments can be ineffective, do not prevent reinfection, and can cause gastrointestinal side effects that impair eucalyptus digestion, sometimes leaving euthanasia as the only option.

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