A chlamydia vaccine has been approved for use on koalas, which scientists hope will stop the sexually-transmitted disease killing the endangered species.

The single-dose vaccine is ready to be used across Australia - in wildlife hospitals, clinics, and in the field.

Chlamydia accounts for as many as half of all wild koala deaths.

Both the male and female marsupials can contract the disease via mating or close contact, causing urinary tract infections, blindness, infertility, and often death.

Infected koalas can be treated with antibiotics, but this can prove equally fatal, as they risk killing the gut bacteria that allows them to eat eucalyptus leaves - their main source of food - which ultimately leads to starvation.

But after more than a decade of research, a team of scientists

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