Help may
be on the way for koalas, whose numbers have declined from millions in the
1700s to as few as 43,000 today. In addition to urbanization, which has decimated the eucalyptus forest koalas live in, and deaths due to cars and dogs,
a chlamydia epidemic is ravaging the marsupial’s populations, causing blind- ness, infertility, and death. But last week, microbiologists at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia, announced that a vaccine helps stem
the course of disease. Peter Timms and his colleagues examined and put radio collars on 60 koalas, vaccinating half
of them. Of that half, uninfected koalas were protected, koalas already infected did not get sicker, and their eye infections improved, they said. They hope to get more funding to extend the vaccination program.
be on the way for koalas, whose numbers have declined from millions in the
1700s to as few as 43,000 today. In addition to urbanization, which has decimated the eucalyptus forest koalas live in, and deaths due to cars and dogs,
a chlamydia epidemic is ravaging the marsupial’s populations, causing blind- ness, infertility, and death. But last week, microbiologists at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia, announced that a vaccine helps stem
the course of disease. Peter Timms and his colleagues examined and put radio collars on 60 koalas, vaccinating half
of them. Of that half, uninfected koalas were protected, koalas already infected did not get sicker, and their eye infections improved, they said. They hope to get more funding to extend the vaccination program.
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