Will a Vaccine Rescue Koalas from the Threat of Chlamydia?

On a broader species scale, however, the ailment, transmitted through bodily fluids, wreaks even more extensive havoc.

Chlamydia is not rare among other species – koalas are believed to have initially contracted it from livestock – but the transmission and severity of the illness amongst these marsupials is unparalleled.

Experts predict that approximately half of koalas in Queensland and New South Wales might be infected, yet just a suburb away from Currumbin, in Elanora, that figure has exceeded 80%.

This represents the most diseased population in the area where numbers have been “plummeting,” Dr Payne remarks. “It’s a catastrophe.”

Enter the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) with their vaccine, designed to combat and manage chlamydia in koalas, which has been nearly two decades in development.

Working alongside Currumbin, they aim to rescue the Elanora koalas from extinction: capturing 30 juveniles for vaccination, followed by subsequent recaptures over three years to monitor their wellbeing.

Thus far, only three of the vaccinated koalas in this research initiative have acquired the disease, but all have recovered, and notably, over two dozen joeys have been born – reversing the trend of infertility.

“We now have generations of koalas that have come through. We’ve got grand joeys,” Dr Payne expresses enthusiastically.

Currumbin has also been administering vaccines to every koala that arrives at their hospital, successfully vaccinating approximately 400 koalas this way.

However, treating and vaccinating each koala afflicted with chlamydia costs around A$7,000 (£3,500, $4,500). The expense of capturing, vaccinating, and monitoring each wild Elanora koala essentially doubles that cost.

Located two hours away, investigators at the University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC) are also striving to diminish the disease’s impact, utilizing a different vaccine.

They inoculate approximately 2,000 koalas yearly through trials at wildlife hospitals and collaborate on development projects or research endeavors in the area that involve their capture.

They have recently consolidated a decade of those projects into a comprehensive study involving more than 600 animals – the most extensive and elongated of its type.

Remarkably, deaths declined by two-thirds among the vaccinated koalas.

Molecular biologist Samuel Phillips shares with the BBC about one local koala group they analyzed, which was facing the threat of extinction. Authorities are now considering relocating some individuals to avoid overpopulation in the area.

“It completely transformed the situation.”

Moreover, the study discovered that koalas who did get chlamydia were infected later in life, beyond their prime breeding years.

Dr. Phillips along with his research colleague Peter Timms have now put forth their vaccine to the national authority for validation but assert they’re tempering their expectations.

“There will be obstacles,” Dr. Timms articulates.

Meanwhile, for their small, overwhelmed team, balancing time and budget is an unattainable feat. Should they participate in as many trials as possible to assist small groups of koalas presently, or should they concentrate their resources on progressing the lengthy research and validation procedure that could later benefit a larger population?

“Individuals periodically approach us, asking, ‘Can we vaccinate more koalas?’ At some point, the response must be ‘No’, because otherwise we would merely expend all our time and energy on that,” Dr. Timms remarks.

A decade has elapsed since these two research cohorts first began observing outcomes, and there remains no definitive timetable regarding when a vaccine will be available.

Furthermore, even upon its completion, considerable obstacles hinder any rollout.

While producing the vaccine isn’t overly expensive, locating, capturing, and immunizing wild koalas is extraordinarily costly and laborious.

Dr. Phillips notes that they would need to strategically focus on specific populations, although they are uncertain about how many koalas within each group would need treatment to reverse their decline.

This challenge becomes even more intricate with the QUT vaccine because it necessitates two doses, unlike UniSC’s single-dose approach.

The QUT team is working on a device – inspired by a human birth control tool – that dissolves after four weeks to administer the booster dose. It is scheduled for trials with Currumbin’s captive koalas next year.

Additionally, the issue of funding has been, and remains, inconsistent. Both vaccine creators offer their vaccines to wildlife hospitals and research initiatives at no charge, depending on private donors, goodwill from their educational institutions, and the unpredictable nature of election cycles.

State and national governments serve as the primary financial supporters of the vaccine initiatives – last year, Canberra allocated A$750,000 each to QUT and UniSC.

“No one wants to envisage an Australia devoid of koalas,” declared Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek at that moment.

However, government contributions remain unpredictable, and often insufficient.

“I find it hard to believe that someone won’t appear tomorrow and say ‘You require vaccinations? Here’s a check to fund the next ten years.’ But those individuals are elusive,” Dr. Timms states.

Nevertheless, the main obstacle is the extensive bureaucracy that researchers have yet to navigate.

Both teams have conservation organizations and wildlife hospitals eager for engagement, yet until they navigate the “arduous” approval procedure, they remain largely restricted.

“[It’s] an essential step that is simply extending too long. It pains me,” Dr. Payne expresses.

“We have effectively moved beyond the point of urgency. It was likely urgent about ten years ago.”

Compounding their frustration is a reality that all involved emphasize repeatedly: the vaccine alone is insufficient to preserve the species.

Thus, even the fortunate koalas like Joe Mangy, who evade demise by chlamydia and return to their natural habitat, must still contend with a host of other lethal challenges.

“It’s demise through countless small injuries, right?” Dr. Timms remarks.