Lab discovery a breakthrough for koalas infected with chlamydia

 

A koala with chlamydial eye disease is examined by vets. Photo: Willa Huston

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Scientists have made a breakthrough in their urgent quest for a new drug to treat koalas at risk of infertility, blindness, pneumonia and even death caused by chlamydia.

The painful and intractable disease is having a devastating impact on populations of Australia’s beloved marsupial.

Specialist koala vets are using two antibiotics – Baytril and Chloramphenicol 150. However, there is less than two years’ supply of Chloramphenicol 150 remaining and the drug is no longer on the market.

Neither of the current treatments works in all cases of chlamydial disease and a new treatment is urgently needed.

Read the full story in the Newsroom.

Byline

Fiona McGill
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