“A vaccine which could save Australia’s endangered koala population from a rampant chlamydia epidemic has been approved for rollout for the first time,” reports the BBC:
University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC) scientists have spent more than a decade developing a jab to curb the spread of the disease, which has devastated wild koala populations across most of eastern Australia…
The much-loved national icon has faced increasing threats to its wild populations across much of eastern Australia in recent decades, from factors including land clearing, natural disasters, feral pests and urbanisation.
Chlamydia, however, has been the biggest killer – accounting for as much as 50% of deaths and claiming thousands of koalas. Some estimate only 50,000 of the animals remain in the wild, and there are fears they will be extinct in some states within a generation.
UniSC’s single-dose chlamydia vaccine has been tested on hundreds of wild koalas, and its approval by federal regulators was based on analysis of a decade’s worth of those trials – a study the university described as the largest and longest ever conducted on wild koalas.
‘This study found [the vaccine] reduced the likelihood of koalas developing symptoms of chlamydia during breeding age and decreased mortality from the disease in wild populations by at least 65%,’ said UniSC’s Sam Phillips.
The research team hopes to provide the vaccine for free, and that roll-out can begin as early as January next year.
Scientists have developed a rabies vaccine for vampire bats that spreads through grooming: “The vaccine is delivered via a gel applied to one bat’s fur. When others groom it, they ingest the gel and gain immunity. Laboratory studies show this method could effectively protect entire colonies.”
Scientists have developed a new, more effective mosquito repellent you can easily apply to your skin, but the FDA will keep it from being sold in the U.S. for years, just as the FDA blocks the most effective sunscreens, which are available in Europe, from being sold in America.
In other good news, a poor African nation has rolled out a vaccine to fight cervical cancer.
