Peering through a fringe of eucalyptus leaves, Don the koala greets visitors with an air of unmistakable curiosity. His large and sensitive nose can easily detect the scent of unfamiliar humans, but his tiny eyes seem much less useful. Swollen and half covered by inflamed eyelids, they've been reduced to slits by debilitating conjunctivitis.
Don's perch isn't deep in the Australian bush. It's in an isolation ward at the Australian Wildlife Hospital in the small town of Beerwah, in northeastern Australia. He's one of roughly 500 koalas treated for chlamydia infection each year by the hospital's senior veterinarian, Jon Hanger, and his team.
Infection with Chlamydia pecorum is rampant among Australia's dwindling koala population, for reasons that aren't exactly clear. In addition to the conjunctivitis that can make finding food difficult, the bacterium causes genitourinary infections that render female koalas sterile, Hanger says. Along with loss of habitat and death ...
