Is It Wrong To Laugh At This?

Apparently, the koalas of the world are dying of a terrible stress disease. This is dreadful, and in no way do I want to minimize those deaths.

It's just that, when I read the article in yesterday's Des Moines Register (don't have the link, but a similar story is here), they went about four paragraphs before they named the disease. And then in a very offhand way. "The koalas are dying of this terrible disease that causes wretched infections. Oh, and it happens to be called chlamydia."

Yes, friends, our dear koala mates are dying of chlamydia. Which, in them apparently functions in much the same way the herpes virus does - with breakouts caused by stress. Although unlike herpes in humans, these chlamydia breakouts tend to be fatal. From the description of the koala's chlamydia, it sounds just like an STI to me - left untreated, it can lead to infertility, blindness, and even death.

The moral to this story is twofold: one, if you think there's a chance you've been exposed to any STI, GET TESTED AND GET TREATMENT! We don't want you to go blind and sterile just because you didn't want to pee in a cup. Two, you should probably get your koalas tested regularly, too. And make sure they have plenty of bamboo to enjoy, as it's the human encroachment on their natural habitats that is leading to this chlamydia outbreak.