Australia approves world-first vaccine to save koalas from chlamydia

Australia has approved the world's first vaccine to protect endangered koalas from chlamydia, a disease that has devastated wild populations of the iconic marsupial.

Developed over more than 10 years by Australia's University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC), the vaccine's approval by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority marks a major step to protect endangered koalas from chlamydia infection and death, according to a UniSC statement released Wednesday.

The disease, spread through breeding, can cause painful urinary tract infections, infertility, blindness and even death, with infection rates reaching as high as 70 percent in some cases, the statement said.

A UniSC-led study found the vaccine reduced the likelihood of koalas developing symptoms of chlamydia during breeding age and decreased mortality from the disease in wild populations by at least 65 percent.

The single-dose vaccine was cleared by the veterinary medicine regulator for use in wildlife hospitals, veterinary clinics and in the field, UniSC Professor of Microbiology Peter Timms said.

"We knew a single-dose vaccine, with no need for a booster, was the answer to reducing the rapid, devastating spread of this disease, which accounts for as much as half of koala deaths across all wild populations in Australia," he said.

Until now, antibiotics were the only treatment available for koalas infected with chlamydia, but they can disrupt a koala's ability to digest eucalyptus leaves, its sole source of food, leading to starvation, and in some cases death. They also often fail to prevent future infection.

A decade of clinical data, gathered through multiple vaccination trials, confirmed the vaccine's safety and effectiveness, according to the statement.