bovine spongiform encephalopathy

noun

: a fatal prion disease of cattle that affects the nervous system, resembles or is identical to scrapie of sheep and goats, and is probably transmitted by infected tissue in food

—abbreviation BSE

called also mad cow disease

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

Food safety officials in Britain had assured consumers that bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, could not be transmitted to humans by eating beef from sick cows. —Andrew Curry, Discover Magazine, 13 Mar. 2013

Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease comes from exposure to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), most often through consumption of infected cattle. —William A. Haseltine, Forbes, 9 June 2022

The official name of mad cow disease is bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). —Cnn Editorial Research, CNN, 30 May 2021

It’s a prion disease with similarities to mad cow disease, which is scientifically known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy. —Anton L. Delgado, The Arizona Republic, 29 May 2021

The disease is part of a group called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, the most famous of which is bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease. —Jim Robbins, New York Times, 12 Nov. 2020

And in 1989, the government banned imports of beef and lamb from regions, including Britain, affected by bovine spongiform encephalopathy, better known as mad cow disease. —David Yaffe-bellany, New York Times, 24 Jan. 2020

Two decades ago, Chicago got caught up in cow fever — not bovine spongiform encephalopathy, but a benign form of art-cow madness. —Steve Johnson, chicagotribune.com, 28 June 2019

But, the most well-known is bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE aka mad cow disease). —Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 26 Apr. 2018

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Word History

First Known Use

1987, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

bovine spongiform encephalopathy

noun

: a fatal prion disease of cattle that affects the nervous system, resembles or is identical with scrapie of sheep and goats, and is probably transmitted by infected tissue in food

—abbreviation BSE

called also mad cow disease