As Hugh Pennington, professor of bacteriology at the University of Aberdeen, says, there is some circumstantial evidence to support the theory.

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The Guangzhou native went to school in Hong Kong, then came to the U.S., earning a doctorate in bacteriology and biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

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Hugh Pennington, the emeritus professor of bacteriology at Aberdeen University, told Newsnight that any new cases may well have originated at the same time as the original vCJD outbreak.

BBC: Fears raised over new vCJD wave