Australia approves world-first vaccine to save koalas from chlamydia

Melbourne, Australia – A regulator has approved a world’s first vaccine to protect Koalas from Chlamydia infections, which cause infertility and death in emblematic native species which are listed as in disappearance in certain parts of Australia.

The single dose vaccine was developed by the University of Sunshine Coast in the State of Queensland after more than a decade of research led by the professor of microbiology Peter Timms.

Research has shown that the vaccine reduced the probability that Koalas will develop the symptoms of Chlamydia during the reproduction age and the reduced mortality of the disease in wild populations of at least 65%.

The recent approval of the veterinary medicine regulator in Australia means that the vaccine can now be used in fauna hospitals, veterinary clinics and in the field to protect the country’s most risky Koalas, Timms said on Wednesday.

“We knew that a single dose vaccine – without the need to boost – was the response to the reduction of the rapid and devastating spread of this disease, which represents up to half the deaths of Koala in all the wild populations of Australia,” Timms said in a statement.

“Some individual colonies are getting closer to local extinction every day, especially in southeast Queensland and New South Wales, where population infection rates are often about 50% and in some cases can reach 70%,” added Timms.

Deborah Tabart, president of the Australian Conservation Charitable Foundation Koala, said that the resources spent on Koalas vaccination should be redirected in the safeguarding of Koala housing.

“At the risk of appearing to be casual, how can we be so delusional that you can vaccinate 100,000 animals? It’s just ridiculous,” said Tabart on Friday.

The Tabart Foundation estimates that there are less than 100,000 koalas in the wild. The national koala surveillance program supported by the government estimated last year, there were between 224,000 and 524,000 koalas.

“I accept that Chlamydia is a problem for koalas, but I also want people to understand that they are sick because they have no habitat,” said Tabart.

The Queensland Conservation Council, an umbrella organization of more than 50 environmental groups across the State, welcomed the vaccine. But the director of the council, Dave Copeman, echoes the attention of Tabart on the preservation of Koala Habitat.

“This is really good news. Chlamydia is one of the key stresses that have put pressure on Koala populations,” said Copeman.

“The Koalas were in danger before the epidemics of Chlamydia, and they will remain in danger even if we manage Chlamydia perfectly, because we continue to destroy their habitat,” he added.

Koalas are listed as endangered species in the States of Queensland and New South Wales and in the territory of the Australian capital, with a loss of habitat due to forest fires and urban expansion as the main threats. Chlamydia can cause urinary tract infections, infertility, blindness and death.

Treatment with antibiotics can disrupt the capacity of an infected koala to digest eucalyptus leaves – its only food source – leading to famine, the university said in a press release.

Research was supported by federal governments, in New South Wales and Queensland.

Federal Minister of the Environment, Murray Watt, said that his government had contributed to the development of the vaccine thanks to a Koalas to savings fund of Australian $ 76 million ($ 50 million).

“We know that koalas need help fighting diseases like chlamydia. This is a widespread threat that has an impact on their reproductive health and causes infertility,” Watt said in a statement.

Koalas are emblematic Australian marsupials, such as Wombats and Kangaroos. Most of their time they spend eating and sleeping in eucalyptus, and their legs have two opposite inches to help them grasp and climb trees.

The Australian people in wild Koala have dropped strongly over the past two decades.

Faced with the threats made up of the disease, the loss of housing, the climate change and the road collisions, the Koalas could disappear by 2050, according to a 2020 evaluation of the Southern New Waler Galles.