Marek's disease

American  

[mar-iks, mahr-] / ˈmær ɪks, ˈmɑr- /

noun

Veterinary Pathology.

1. a contagious cancerous disease of poultry, caused by a herpesvirus and characterized by proliferation of lymphoid cells and paralysis of a limb or the neck.

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Etymology

Origin of Marek's disease

After Hungarian veterinarian József Marek (1868–1952), who described it in 1907

Example Sentences

As evolutionary ecologist David Kennedy and I have written about previously, the evolutionary path that the Marek's disease virus took is one of many that are possible – in rare cases where vaccines drive evolution.

From Salon • Aug. 30, 2021

Day said there are documented cases of animal viruses that evolved over time to become more lethal, including myxoma virus in rabbits and Marek’s disease in chicken.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 2, 2021

In the 1970s, his lab developed a vaccine to prevent Marek’s disease in chickens, a cancer that he’d seen as a boy on the farm, and that benefitted the poultry industry.

From Washington Times • Sep. 6, 2019

Farmers have built their barns and established their routines around the more common diseases of turkeys and chickens — Marek’s disease, infectious bronchitis, fowl cholera — which can be prevented with vaccinations and good hygiene.

From New York Times • Apr. 13, 2016

At Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine, Microbiologist Catherine Fabricant and colleagues are working with a herpes virus that produces in chickens a variety of tumors known as Marek's disease.

From Time Magazine Archive