bovine spongiform encephalopathy

American  

[spuhn-juh-fawrm] / ˈspʌn dʒəˌfɔrm /

1. a fatal neurological disease of cattle, characterized by spongelike changes in the brain and thought to be caused by an infectious prion also implicated in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. BSE

---

bovine spongiform encephalopathy British  

noun

1. the full name for BSE

---

bovine spongiform encephalopathy Scientific  

/ spŭn′jĭ-fôrm′ /

1. See mad cow disease

---

Etymology

Origin of bovine spongiform encephalopathy

1985–90

Example Sentences

Also known as “zombie deer disease,” chronic wasting disease is a contagious infection similar to mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

From Los Angeles Times • May 9, 2024

Formally called bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, the disease first broke out in the late 1980s among cattle in Britain.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 1, 2023

He was president of the Royal Society from 1995 to 2000, charting a course through crises over bovine spongiform encephalopathy and transgenic crops.

From Nature • Dec. 11, 2018

Some claim to be selling beef imported from the United States, even though such beef has been barred from the Chinese mainland since 2003, following outbreaks of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.

From New York Times • Jun. 24, 2015

The regulations, which were laid out as proposals in August 2011, had their genesis in the handful of cases of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, in the United States dating back to 2003.

From Reuters • Dec. 20, 2012