A vaccine to protect koalas against the deadly sexually transmitted disease, chlamydia, has been approved in a move being celebrated by scientists and the conservation sector.

In a world-first, researchers from the University of the Sunshine Coast spent 10 years developing and testing the single-dose vaccine, which has successfully been trialled on hundreds of wild koalas spanning several generations.

They are now calling for funding to roll the vaccine out nationwide.

Chlamydia can cause urinary tract infections, infertility, blindness and even death in koalas.

Professor of microbiology Peter Timms, who led the study, said many wild colonies in Queensland and New South Wales had infection rates of about 50 per cent, while one in northern NSW had a level closer to 80 per cent.

“UniSC

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