“There is no money in saving koalas... Americans in particular say, surely it’s so important? And the answer is, well, not as surely as you think, Australians are sometimes a little bit apathetic.”
Where Are We At With Koala Chlamydia?
With Professor Peter Timms, University of the Sunshine Coast
Episode published January 1, 2026
Setting the record straight, koalas didn’t catch chlamydia from an overly-amorous human. Koalas can’t catch chlamydia from people, nor people from them. But humans can get a version of it from birds!
Koala chlamydia often makes people snigger that the animal symbol of Australia can get what we think of as an STD.
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 humans can catch it from birds but not Blinky, the fact that antibiotics can cure the disease but then the koala can't eat anything, and why baby koalas eating poop is both good and bad.
