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After years of fighting to end the chlamydia epidemic that has had a huge negative impact on koala populations in Australia, the researchers believe they have found a solution.
The Australian Zoo Wildlife Hospital in Queensland, also home to the Irvine family, will be showcasing a new chlamydia disease specifically designed to treat koalas. This vaccine trial will include 400 koalas and will be the largest vaccine trial. The researchers hope this vaccine will help keep koalas from the endangered species list and protect their species.
Koalas were already a threatened population ahead of the 2020 Australian fire season. Car strikes, dog attacks, land clearing and other environmental problems have already negatively affected koala populations in Australia. In the wake of the devastation and deaths caused by the 2020 wildfires, endangered species experts have confirmed that koalas are on their way to extinction. If we don’t make more efforts to protect this species, we will lose them. The chlamydia vaccine is one such endeavor.
Chlamydia is now widespread among koalas. The long-term effects of this sexually transmitted disease cause infertility and blindness in koalas. It also causes koalas to experience severe pain when urinating. The vaccine will help reduce these effects in koalas and improve both their long-term survival and their quality of life.
Why do koalas need to “cheer up”?
Currently, half of the koala population in Queensland is affected by chlamydia. This means that as these animals reproduce and reproduce, they transmit the disease sexually between females and from mother to child. Without a vaccine, the disease will continue to spread in the population.
The Chlamydia vaccine, previously tested in small groups of 250 koalas, is safe and has no adverse effects on animals. Unlike humans, koalas cannot be treated with antibiotics for chlamydia. Wild koalas are not only more difficult to continue with antibiotics, but they also affect the gut bacteria that koalas need to digest eucalyptus leaves. The single shot vaccine solves both of these problems. Koalas can receive the vaccine while passing through Australia’s wildlife hospitals and can return to the wild unattended and be able to eat their natural food source.
The vaccine will help treat current koala infections and hopefully prevent future transmission. Although it is known to treat current infections, it is still unknown if this vaccine will prevent the transmission of dormant chlamydia bacteria. Hopefully this trial will clarify this issue as vaccinated koalas return to the wild for the first time. In previous trials, all vaccinated koalas lived in captivity.
If successful, the vaccine will be distributed to other wildlife hospitals and introduced to other wild koala populations throughout Australia. To track the effectiveness of the vaccine, every koala at the Australian Wildlife Hospital Zoo will be tagged and tracked once it is returned to the wild. By tracking vaccinated koalas, researchers will be able to see the difference in lifestyle quality between vaccinated and unvaccinated.
This vaccine could be the change we need to protect koalas. Hopefully, as koalas “gain strength,” the rate of transmission and infection of chlamydia will decline, ultimately changing the trajectory of their future.
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