British scientists have been asked to confirm the presence of "mad cow disease" in a French goat.

If accepted this would be the first time bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) has been naturally transmitted to another species.

Routine tests by French scientists found traces of the brain wasting disease in the goat two years ago.

The European Commission wants their discovery endorsed but has downplayed the chance of further infection.

An abnormal strain of scrapie - from the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) family of diseases - was found in the French goat during European-wide tests in 2002.

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Source: BBC News
October 30, 2004

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