After the necessary checks to confirm that they are in good health, their researchers administer anesthesia, vaccinate them and they monitor them for 24 hours to avoid any side effects.

vaccination made on healthy koalas to prevent chlamydial infections.

Before releasing them into the wild, researchers mark them with a special sign. pink paint brush on their backs to make sure they are not vaccinated twice.

scourge of chlamydia

Koalas are Australia’s iconic animals, as are kangaroos. They spend most of their time in eucalyptus trees where they eat and sleep.

OUR the population of wild koalas has declined sharply in the last two decades.

In February, the federal government declared the animal “endangered” in the eastern regions of New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory.

According to a 2020 NSW government report, koalas are endangered due to rising disease, habitat loss and traffic.

Scientists estimate that about half of the population of Queensland is already infected with chlamydia. The origin of venereal disease in koalas has not yet been confirmed, but scientists believe it is possible that marsupials first contracted the disease after coming into contact with the faeces of infected sheep and cattle. Whereas then they transmitted the disease sexually or from mother to children.

And while the bacteria that cause chlamydia in humans and animals can be treated with antibiotics, treatment is more complicated in the case of koalas.

“Complex microbes in the stomach of koalas”. designed to neutralize eucalyptus leaf toxins which are their main food source,” explains Matthew Crowder, a biologist at the University of Sydney. Nevertheless, their digestive system can also neutralize some drugs “This means they are not responding properly to antibiotic treatment,” he notes.

In 2008, 10% of Australia’s endemic herbivores were infected with chlamydia, according to Crowder, who has been monitoring their populations in northern New South Wales for more than a decade. Today this percentage reaches 80%.

“It’s devastating, the birth rate is very, very low. You rarely see babies,” he admits.

Source: Associated Press.