Help QUT researchers give koalas a shot at survival
A collaboration led by QUT researchers may have saved a koala population on the Gold Coast – now, they hope to extend their life-saving vaccine throughout the state and eastern seaboard.
Led by Professor Ken Beagley (QUT School of Biomedical Science), the research team has successfully trialled a chlamydia vaccine on a localised koala population, working alongside senior vet Dr Michael Pyne and crew at Currumbin Wildlife Hospital.
They are appealing for donations to help widen the availability of the vaccine, allowing any vet to administer it well beyond its current scope of being purely a research tool used at Currumbin.
“We want to see healthy koala populations across Australia,” Professor Beagley said.
“We need to do everything we can to help save these iconic Australian marsupials. A koala with chlamydial disease is an awful sight … we need to do all we can to help.”
The two-shot vaccine is being tested in a five-year treat-and-track study, with preliminary data suggesting long-lasting immunity, improved fertility and a chance to rebuild populations.
Koalas in Queensland, NSW and ACT are listed as endangered, despite conservation efforts of the past 20 years. Without intervention, localised extinction for one of Australia’s most-loved animals is a real threat - longer term, by 2050 koalas could be extinct across large areas of eastern Australia.
In some koala populations, chlamydia infection rates are believed to be as high as 90 per cent, with the disease spreading with devastating effect through physical contact.
Of the estimated 400 koalas to arrive at Currumbin Wildlife Hospital last year, 60 per cent were sick or dying from this often-fatal bacterial condition, which can also cause infertility, blindness and urinary tract disease. Antibiotics have limited effect, so prevention through vaccination is the key.
“It is vital we get to the stage where we are preventing this massive disease,” said Dy Pyne, who has been treating koalas for more than 20 years.
“The QUT vaccine is showing great promise. Treated koalas are breeding well, levels of disease (re-occurring) are low … it’s making a real difference out there in the wild.”
Lifelong protection from chlamydia will mean healthy joeys being born and populations being rebuilt. Vaccinating even 10 per cent of a young population will significantly reduce disease incidence over a five-year period.
Professor Beagley (above), who has been researching chlamydia for 20 years and first developed a koala vaccine in 2010, is working alongside fellow QUT researchers Professor Tim Dargaville (polymer chemist) and Dr Emily Bryan (postdoctoral research fellow).
Two years in, nearly 300 koalas have been vaccinated and tracked to date – with nearly all females testing disease-negative at 12 months, and some still negative at 24 months. 11 of 13 males tested negative 12 -24 months post vaccination. There have also been 25 joeys born to vaccinated females plus a second-generation baby koala (grand joey).
Professor Beagley says such results drive his passion and keep him working towards the long-term goal of a chlamydia-free koala status nationwide.
“Our chlamydia vaccine looks like it’s protecting wild koalas – and I’m not retiring until it’s registered and widely available.”
DONATE NOW: Help save Australia’s iconic koalas
Such vital, transformative research is not cheap.
Each koala suffering from chlamydia costs Currumbin Wildlife Hospital about $7000 to treat, with many requiring extended stays of up to 10 weeks due to complications from antibiotics. The team is focused on ensuring all koalas brought into Currumbin hospital are vaccinated before release.
The QUT research team is also developing booster technology to alleviate the need to hold or recapture koalas.
The one-shot implant, slightly bigger than a pet microchip, is inserted under the skin and will mean kinder treatment for animals, with less interference.
As Professor Beagley says, not having to recapture or hold the animals in captivity for a second shot after 30 days means “letting koalas be koalas”.
“Ultimately, it will mean we only have to capture a wild koala once. A rapid test that we have developed takes less than 30 minutes and if the koala is chlamydia-free, we can vaccinate with the implant and release the animal back into the wild.”
