Spiroplasma as a candidate agent for the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies.
Just enter Bastian FO into PubMed.
Info at "Tetracyclines affect.." indicates:
"Hamsters injected with tetracycline-treated inoculum showed a significant delay in the onset of clinical signs of disease and prolonged survival time. These effects were paralleled by a delay in the appearance of magnetic-resonance abnormalities in the thalamus, neuropathological changes, and PrPSc accumulation. When tetracycline was preincubated with highly diluted scrapie-infected inoculum, one third of hamsters did not develop disease."
Better than treatment with spit, I guess. I wonder if bourbon works any better. Someone needs to alert the University of Kentucky that a little research is needed here...