Longitudinal study of wild koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) reveals chlamydial disease progression in two thirds of infected animals.

ABSTRACT: Chlamydial disease threatens many of Australia's koala populations, and yet our understanding of chlamydial epidemiology and disease dynamics in koalas is limited by a lack of comprehensive, longitudinal population studies. To address this, we utilised longitudinal samples from a large-scale population study of wild koalas in south-east Queensland, to follow chlamydial infections over time and to investigate some of the drivers of disease progression. Our findings show, firstly, that almost two thirds of chlamydial infections progressed to disease, challenging the notion that chlamydial infections in koalas commonly remain chronic and asymptomatic. Secondly, disease progression at the urogenital tract site was associated with infection load, and urogenital tract shedding was significantly

SUBMITTER: Robbins A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6744427 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature