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Deadly HIV-like plague that causes cancer could wipe out world's koalas, scientists fear
creatures are faced with a new threat - a deadly HIV-like retrovirus that can trigger fatal cancers.The virus, which is called KoRV, could be the final blow that sends one of Australia's most iconic animals over the edge into extinction.Most worrying of all, KoRV is known to spread from parent to child, making it particularly hard to eradicate.The entire koala population of Queensland and New South Wales is now thought to be carrying the virus.Prof Alex Greenwood, of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Diseases Research, said KoRV is "rewriting the koala's genome and causing cancer.He explained: "Each koala carries around 80 - 100 inherited copies of KoRV in its genome."The genomic locations of most of these are not shared between
