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

An isolated case of classical BSE - or mad cow disease - was discovered on a farm in Dumfries and Galloway in May.

From BBC • Feb. 24, 2025

In the 1980s, concerns about bovine spongiform encephalopathy — or mad cow disease — took hold across Europe, when cases of the incurable and invariably fatal neurodegenerative disease of cattle began to appear.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 18, 2024

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

Sales of Brazilian beef to China were banned in February following the discovery of an atypical case of mad cow disease.

From Washington Times • Apr. 12, 2023

Ground-up cattle brains were put into cattle feed and some of those cows got mad cow disease.

From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan