The prions used in the experiment were the type that cause scrapie, the brain-wasting disease that afflicts sheep.
Scrapie can also occur in goats.
Scrapie is believed to have jumped the species barrier to cows - triggering BSE - but has not been found to be a direct risk to humans.
This is one of several ideas on how BSE started, but there is not yet enough science to make this a definitive statement.
Bump