In what’s been hailed as a “massive breakthrough”, a chlamydia vaccine implant developed by QUT has been administered to a wild koala for the first time. This is the only koala chlamydia vaccine that uses two doses. Now thanks to the implant it can be applied in one examination.
She might not know it, but the recipient a young koala dubbed Bamse (Norwegian for ‘teddy bear’) is now a trailblazer in the battle against a disease devastating to her species.
The 18-month-old female was captured in Burleigh in May and taken to Currumbin Wildlife Hospital.
There Senior Veterinarian Dr Michael Pyne, assisted by QUT’s Dr Freya Russell, from the QUT School of Biomedical Sciences and Centre for Immunology and Infection Control, sedated Bamse, injected her with the first vaccine dose, and inserted the implant.
Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary’s koala ecology team returned Bamse to her bushland home on the same day as the procedure.
That implant was designed to break down after 30 days to deliver the second vaccine dose. Bamse is wearing a GPS collar and will be monitored for at least six months to assess the implant’s effectiveness.
Five wild koalas from Burleigh have now received the implant. Bamse and another koala have been recaptured for their one-month check-up and both are chlamydia free.
Trialling the implant on wild koalas is a major milestone for the chlamydia vaccine project, led by QUT and Currumbin Wildlife Hospital.
QUT’s innovative, biodegradable implant delivers the second dose removing the need to recapture koalas. The process is much less stressful for the animals, requires fewer staff and resources, and makes large-scale vaccination of wild koalas much more practical.
