Australia Approves Chlamydia Vaccine for Koalas
Australian regulators have approved a chlamydia vaccine for koalas, researchers said Wednesday, as they seek to stamp out a sexually transmitted disease responsible for about half of all deaths of the fluffy marsupial in the wild.
For a decade, scientists at the University of the Sunshine Coast trialed the chlamydia vaccine in controlled settings.
But approval from the veterinary medicine regulator means the single-dose shot can be nationally rolled out.
Lead researcher Professor Peter Timms said the disease was driving wild koalas to extinction, particularly in southeast Queensland and New South Wales.
In those areas, "infection rates within populations are often around 50 percent and in some cases can reach as high as 70 percent," he said.
Trials of the vaccine showed it reduced the likelihood of the herbivores developing chlamydia during breeding age and decreased deaths in wild populations by at least 65 percent.
Antibiotics were previously the only treatment for the chlamydia-ridden tree-dwellers but it disrupted their digestive abilities and did not protect against future infections.
Chlamydia was first observed in koalas about 50 years ago.
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