A chlamydia vaccine has been approved for use on koalas, which scientists hope will stop the sexually-transmitted disease killing the endangered species.<\/p>\n
The single-dose vaccine is ready to be used across Australia<\/a> – in wildlife hospitals, clinics, and in the field.<\/p>\n Chlamydia accounts for as many as half of all wild koala deaths.<\/p>\n Both the male and female marsupials can contract the disease via mating or close contact, causing urinary tract infections, blindness, infertility, and often death.<\/p>\n Infected koalas can be treated with antibiotics, but this can prove equally fatal, as they risk killing the gut bacteria that allows them to eat eucalyptus leaves – their main source of food – which ultimately leads to starvation.<\/p>\n But after more than a decade of research, a team of scientists at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland hopes the injection will reduce deaths in the wild by at least 65%.<\/p>\n “It offers three levels of protection – reducing infection, preventing progression to clinical disease, and in some cases, reversing existing symptoms,” Professor Peter Timms, an expert in microbiology at the university, said.<\/p>\n Read more from Sky News
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