Melbourne, Australia (AP). The regulator has confirmed the first global vaccine to protect koalas from chlamydia infections that cause infertility and death in iconic indigenous species that are in endangered parts of Australia.
One dose vaccine has developed in Sunshine Coast Kvinsland, after more than a decade of research led by microbiology professor Peter Timms.
Studies have shown that the vaccine reduced the likelihood of koalas to develop the symptoms of chlamydia in the breeding age and decreased at least 65%of the disease in wild populations.
Recently, confirmation of the Australian Veterinary Medicine Regulatory Authority means that the vaccine can now be used in wildlife hospitals, veterinary clinics and outdoors to protect the risk risk at risk, Timms said Wednesday.
“We knew that a single dose that did not require strengthening was the answer to the answer to reducing the rapid, devastating spread of the disease, which leads to half of the koala death in all wild Australian populations,” said Timms’s report.
“Some individual colonies get closer to local disappearance every day, especially in the southeastern Queensland and the New South Wales, where the number of infections in populations is often about 50%and in some cases can reach 70%,” Timms added.
Deborah Tabart, Chairwoman of the Conservation Charity Australian Koala Foundation, said resources issued by coal vaccinated should be directed to Saving Koala.
“At risk to sound like someone can be so deceptive that you can think that you can vaccinate 100,000 animals? It’s just funny,” the tab part said on Friday.
According to the tab part fund, there are less than 100,000 koals in nature. The government -sponsored Koala National Monitoring Program was rated last year, with 224,000 to 524,000 koalas.
“I agree that Chlamydia is a” koalas “problem, but I also want people to understand that they are sick because they have no habitat,” the tab part said.
The Queensland Protection Council, an umbrella organization more than 50 environmental groups across the state, welcomed the vaccine. However, council director Dave Copeman repeated the attention of the tab part to the preservation of Koala office.
“This is really good news. Chlamydia is one of the main stress that causes pressure on the Koala population,” Copeman said.
“Koalas were in danger against chlamydia and will be in danger, even if we manage chlamydia perfectly because we are constantly destroying their habitats,” he added.
Koalas are listed as endangered species in the territory of Queensland and New South Wales and the Australian capital, and the loss of habitats due to fires and urban development is the main threat. Chlamydia can cause urinary tract infections, infertility, blindness and death.
Antibiotic treatment can disrupt the infected koala ability to digest eucalyptus leaves – the only source of its food – causes fasting, the university said in a statement.
The investigation was sponsored by the federal, new South Wales and Queensland government.
Federal Minister of the Environment Murray Watt said its government contributed to the development of the vaccine over $ 76 million ($ 50 million), a saving Koalas fund.
“We know that koals need help in combating diseases such as chlamydia. This is a widespread threat that influences their reproductive health and causes infertility,” the Watt report said.
Koalas are iconic Australian Marsupials, such as vomates and kangaroos. They spend most of their time eating and sleeping in eucalyptus trees, and their paws have two opposite thumbs that will help them grab and climb tree trunks.
The Australian wild koala population has declined dramatically over the last two decades.
Based on 2020 According to the evaluation of the new South Wales government, koalas may disappear due to complex diseases, loss of habitat, climate change and road threats.