How prevalent is Chlamydia on Phillip Island?
During the 1980s, the fertility rate of koalas on Phillip Island dropped to about 15 percent. This was attributed to chlamydial infection. At the same time, the rate on French Island, where the urogenital strain of Chlamydia is absent, was almost 100 percent. Given normal levels of mortality, koalas need a fertility rate of about 35 percent to maintain their numbers. There is no research into infection rates on Phillip Island at present. However, symptoms are not often observed. But then again, neither are mothers with young (Reed 2002). It is thought that stress due to habitat loss and other threats, such as dogs and cars, increases the incidence of symptoms (Phillip Island Nature Park 1998). How prevalent is Chlamydia in the Koala Conservation Centre? During the last major survey of Koala Conservation Centre koalas in 2001, more than a third of the sample tested positive to Chlamydia. Despite this, we do not often see physical signs of the disease in the park, indicating that the lev
