Chlamydia could kill off koalas. Can a vaccine save them in time?

Chlamydia is killing thousands of koalas and making even more sterile, pushing the national icons to the brink of extinction.

It's at the core of desperate bid to save them with a vaccine frustrated efforts which, after over a decade, are still tied up in regulation and running out of both time and money.

Experts estimate as few as 50,000 of the animals are left in the wild and the species is officially listed as endangered on most of the eastern seaboard.

Currumbin , QUT and UniSC are trying to save Elanora koalas from chlamydia.

Each vaccine costs about A$7,000 - double that of capturing, vaccinating, tracking, and tracking each wild koala .

University of Sunshine Coast researchers are developing a vaccine to combat the spread of the disease.

There is still no real timeline on when a jab will be ready.

Adding to their despondency, is a fact all involved stress repeatedly: the vaccine is simply not enough to save the species. And so even the lucky koalas like Joe Mangy , who dodge death by chlamydia and return to the wild, still must face off against a myriad of other mortal threats. "It's death by a thousand cuts, right?" Dr Timms says..