Koalas to be vaccinated against deadly chlamydia in world first

With fluffy ears, round heads, and spoon-shaped noses, koalas are known for their lovable faces, but these sleepy Australian tree dwellers. are full of surprises. Koalas are not bears, they're marsupials, often mislabeled koala bears because of their teddy bear-like appearance. koalas are marsupials, mammals that give birth to undeveloped young. Like most marsupials, mother koalas have pouches or baby koalas or joey drink their mother's milk and continue to develop for around 6 months. But unlike most other marsupials, koala pouches open toward the bottom. This allows joeys to access and consume *** substance their mother secretes, which aids in the baby koala's digestion. Koalas have 6 opposable thumbs. With sharp pointed claws and rough pads, koala hands and feet are uniquely designed to grip branches. Their front paws have 5 digits. 2 digits oppose the other three like *** pair of thumbs. Their back paws each have one large clawless opposable digit which allows them to grasp branches with their feet, freeing their hands to forage. Koala feet also have built-in combs. The 2nd and 3rd toes are fused together and are used for grooming their wooly fur. Koalas eat leaves that are poisonous to many animals. The koala diet consists almost entirely of eucalyptus leaves. Of the roughly 650 species of eucalypt trees in Australia, koalas prefer only about 30 of them. The leathery leaves are very high in fiber and contain chemicals toxic to other animals. To process the specialized diet, koalas have *** closed and *** digestive organ called acium which helps digest the leaf fibers via fermentation. Koalas sleep up to 22 hours per day because of their low nutrition diets and sluggish metabolism, koalas must conserve their energy. Koalas spend about 10% of their day eating and around 90% of their time sleeping. To accommodate so much time spent sleeping in tree branches, koalas have curved spines and tailless rears padded with cartilage and extra thick fur. Koala habitat is quickly disappearing. Koalas only live in eastern and southeastern Australia and once numbered in the millions. Now, wild koala population estimates vary from 43,000 to around 350,000. Vast tree clearing due to urbanization along with droughts and forest fires have drastically reduced koala habitats since the early 1900s. These stressors have made koalas vulnerable to diseases as well as dog attacks and vehicle strikes. Australia's conservation plans include designating and protecting koala habitat and funding koala hospitals and disease research. These combined efforts are critical to protect the beloved koala from extinction.

Updated: 10:17 AM CDT Sep 10, 2025

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Koalas to be vaccinated against deadly chlamydia in world first

Updated: 10:17 AM CDT Sep 10, 2025

Editorial Standards ⓘ

A vaccine used to treat chlamydia in Australia’s koala population has been approved for rollout, in a world-first project.Researchers from the University of the Sunshine Coast spent more than 10 years developing a single-dose vaccine to protect the famed Australian marsupial from the effects of chlamydia, which include urinary tract infections, infertility, blindness and death, the university said in a statement Wednesday.Chlamydia is responsible for half of koala deaths in the country’s wild populations, which are predominantly found in the eucalyptus forests along Australia’s eastern coast.“Some individual colonies are edging closer to local extinction every day, particularly in South East Queensland and New South Wales, where infection rates within populations are often around 50 percent and in some cases can reach as high as 70%,” Peter Timms, professor of microbiology at UniSC’s Centre for Bioinnovation, said in a statement.Often used as an emblem of Australian culture, the fluffy gray marsupials can only be found in Australia, and are considered endangered in Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. Aside from disease, the creatures are vulnerable to habitat loss, animal attacks and being hit by cars, and were named critically endangered in 2022, according to Australia’s World Wildlife Fund (WWF).They are also often victims of the deadly bushfires that have ravaged Australia in its summer months in recent years. This year, some 860 koalas in Budj Bim National Park were shot from the air to “reduce suffering” after a bushfire, 9News reported.Antibiotics were previously used to treat chlamydia in koalas, but the drugs often interfere with their ability to digest their staple diet of eucalyptus leaves, causing them to starve to death.Now approved by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority for production and widespread use, in what researchers describe as a “world first,” the chlamydia vaccine has already been trialed on hundreds of wild and captive koalas, according to UniSC, which noted it had already been tested across multiple generations of the animal in a study published last year.“This study found that 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%,” said researcher Sam Phillips, who led the study, which was the largest and longest study of wild koalas.“It’s based on Chlamydia pecorum’s major outer membrane protein (MOMP), and offers three levels of protection — reducing infection, preventing progression to clinical disease and, in some cases, reversing existing symptoms,” he added.In humans, chlamydia is a bacterial sexually transmitted infection that can cause infertility if left untreated.The disease spreads in koala populations through reproduction and social behavior connected to mating. In addition, baby koalas — known as joeys — can catch the disease from their mothers.

A vaccine used to treat chlamydia in Australia’s koala population has been approved for rollout, in a world-first project.

Researchers from the University of the Sunshine Coast spent more than 10 years developing a single-dose vaccine to protect the famed Australian marsupial from the effects of chlamydia, which include urinary tract infections, infertility, blindness and death, the university said in a statement Wednesday.

Chlamydia is responsible for half of koala deaths in the country’s wild populations, which are predominantly found in the eucalyptus forests along Australia’s eastern coast.

“Some individual colonies are edging closer to local extinction every day, particularly in South East Queensland and New South Wales, where infection rates within populations are often around 50 percent and in some cases can reach as high as 70%,” Peter Timms, professor of microbiology at UniSC’s Centre for Bioinnovation, said in a

Often used as an emblem of Australian culture, the fluffy gray marsupials can only be found in Australia, and are considered endangered in Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. Aside from disease, the creatures are vulnerable to habitat loss, animal attacks and being hit by cars, and were named critically endangered in 2022, Australia’s World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

They are also often victims of the deadly bushfires that have ravaged Australia in its summer months in recent years. This year, some 860 koalas in Budj Bim National Park were shot from the air to “reduce suffering” after a bushfire,

Antibiotics were previously used to treat chlamydia in koalas, but the drugs often interfere with their ability to digest their staple diet of eucalyptus leaves, causing them to starve to death.

Now approved by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority for production and widespread use, in what researchers describe as a “world first,” the chlamydia vaccine has already been trialed on hundreds of wild and captive koalas, according to UniSC, which noted it had already been tested across multiple generations of the animal in

“This study found that 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%,” said researcher Sam Phillips, who led the study, which was the largest and longest study of wild koalas.

“It’s based on Chlamydia pecorum’s major outer membrane protein (MOMP), and offers three levels of protection — reducing infection, preventing progression to clinical disease and, in some cases, reversing existing symptoms,” he added.

In humans, chlamydia is a bacterial sexually transmitted infection that can cause infertility if left untreated.

The disease spreads in koala populations through reproduction and social behavior connected to mating. In addition, baby koalas — known as joeys — can catch the disease from their mothers.

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