Koalas did not catch chlamydia from humans. Humans can't catch it from koalas either, but we can catch it from birds!
Koala chlamydia often makes people snigger, thinking that the animal symbol of Australia can get what we think of as an STD. But the disease is decimating populations of the fluffy marsupial that are already struggling due to habitat destruction, road deaths and the curse of the feral cat, fox and dog. Not all is lost, however. Professor Peter Timms and his colleagues at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia have brought to market the very first vaccine for koala chlamydia. Find out how they first caught the disease, why fact that antibiotics can cure the disease but then the koala can't feed, and why baby koalas eating poop is both good and bad.
