I agree that this could be good news about "prion diseases". However, it is not new. See, for example, Bastian F O (December 1979). "Spiroplasma-like inclusions in Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease". Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine. 103 (13): 665–69. PMID 389196. They have been working on this for a while.
There are a number of other theories about the causes of these diseases. I don't recommend it as the only source but Wikipedia has a good list of primary sources.
I think that the majority of workers in the field lean towards prions as the most likely agent. Perhaps they will be proven wrong. We can hope for treatment or immunization in any case.
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