mad cow disease

American  

1. bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

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mad cow disease British  

noun

1. an informal name for BSE

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mad cow disease Scientific  

/ măd /

1. A degenerative neurologic disease of cattle, thought to be caused by infection-causing agents called prions, in which brain tissues deteriorate and take on a spongy appearance, resulting in abnormal behaviors and loss of muscle control. A variant form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is transmitted to humans through the eating of infected cattle tissue.

2. Also called bovine spongiform encephalopathy

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mad cow disease Cultural  

1. A lethal disease that originates in cows and can spread to humans through consumption of affected neural tissue. It is called Jakob-Creutzfeldt disease in humans. It causes the brain to deteriorate through the instrument of an infectious protein called a prion.

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Etymology

Origin of mad cow disease

1985–90

Example Sentences

She says the outbreak of BSE, or mad cow disease, that affected beef in the 1990s was more worrying because it could affect humans.

From BBC • Apr. 5, 2026

South Korea, which is the world’s top importer of American beef, currently bans beef from cattle that are older than 30 months on concerns it may introduce bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 31, 2025

But these cramped conditions also make diseases like avian flu, mad cow disease and the African swine fever virus more likely to develop and spread.

From Salon • Apr. 17, 2023

China also recently ended a ban on Brazilian beef imposed in February after the discovery of an atypical case of mad cow disease.

From Washington Times • Apr. 13, 2023

Then people in England began dying of a sickness called mad cow disease.

From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan