Australia approves the vaccine to curb the epidemic

A vaccine that could save the population of Koala endangered in Australia from a creeping epidemic of Chlamydia was approved for the deployment for the first time.

Scientists at the University of Sunshine Coast (United) have spent more than a decade developing a blow to limit the spread of the disease, which has decimated wild Koala populations in most of the East Australia.

“Certain individual wild colonies, where the rate of infection can reach 70%, is close to extinction every day,” said Peter Timms.

The approval of regulators now obtained, he said that the team hoped that major funding distributes the vaccine to fauna hospitals, veterinary clinics and the Koalas in the wild.

“It was a long road … There were points along the way, I think we have almost abandoned,” said Dr. Timms, microbiologist.

“Today is a very exciting day.”

Chlamydia – which is transmitted by narrow contact or coupling – can cause painful infections of the urinary tract, conjunctivitis, blindness and infertility in koalas, and is often fatal.

Male and female koalas can contract the disease, which is a different tension from that found in humans, while Joeys can catch it by feeding in their mother’s pocket.

But treatment can also be fatal. Koalas infected with chlamydia generally receive antibiotics, but this destroys intestinal bacteria that allow them to digest eucalyptus leaves – their main source of food – and can lead to famine.

The highly appreciated national icon has been faced with growing threats to its wild populations in a large part of East Australia in recent decades, factors such as land compensation, natural disasters, wild pests and urbanization.

Chlamydia, however, was the largest killer – representing up to 50% of deaths and claiming thousands of koalas. Some believe that only 50,000 of the animals remain in the wild, And there are fears that they are extinguished in certain states in a generation.

The UNISC single dose chlamydia vaccine was tested on hundreds of wild koalas, and its approval by federal regulators was based on the analysis of a decade of these trials – a study that the university described as the largest and longest ever carried out on wild koalas.

“This study revealed [the vaccine] The probability that Koalas develop symptoms of Chlamydia during the age of reproduction and the mortality of the disease in wild populations at least 65%, “said Sam Phillips of the UNISC.

The research team hopes to provide the vaccine for free, and this deployment can start next year next year, starting with the most risky fauna and populations.

But treating chlamydia is extremely expensive, and locating, catching and inoculating even more expensive wild koalas, so the team does not yet have the money to realize these dreams.

“To obtain funding now, so that we can do this following sentence where the vaccine really becomes a reality … Not just a try, would be a rather astonishing thing,” said Dr. Timms.

Although excited, he also pointed out that the vaccine alone is not enough to save the species. Other factors causing koalas to extinction must also be treated, he said.

“The loss of the habitat is the most important thing – if you have no tree, nothing else, counts.”

In a statement, the Minister of the Environment, Murray Watt, said that the vaccine would help guarantee that future generations could always see Koalas in the wild, but that the government was also focused on species monitoring and housing restoration.

Earlier this week, the Southern New Wales Government announced that 176,000 hectares – an area the size of the Grand London – would be added to the existing nature reserves to create the large Koala National Park, which he promised in an election two years ago.

It is estimated that the new park will protect more than 12,000 koalas and will also provide a habitat for more than 100 other endangered species.