: a usually fatal prion disease of sheep and goats characterized by twitching, excitability, intense itching, excessive thirst, emaciation, weakness, and finally paralysis
Examples of scrapie in a Sentence
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That’s because in the 1980s, a prion disease in sheep, known as scrapies — which humans do not seem to get — moved into cows, and soon people throughout the United Kingdom, France and elsewhere were becoming infected with mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
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Susanne Rust, Los Angeles Times, 16 Apr. 2025
This is the clearest evidence yet that alpha-synuclein can behave like prions, the proteins that cause mad cow disease, scrapie and Creutzfeld-Jacob disease (CJD).
—Ed Yong, Discover Magazine, 16 Nov. 2012
In this way, SOD1 is a lot like prions, the infectious proteins behind mad cow disease, CJD and scrapie.
—Ed Yong, Discover Magazine, 14 Feb. 2011
Examples include mad cow disease, scrapie, Kuru, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
—William A. Haseltine, Forbes, 9 June 2022
Chronic wasting disease is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, similar to mad cow disease, scrapie and Creutzfeldt-Jakob.
—Paul A. Smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 18 Dec. 2021
Sheep have carried scrapie — effectively mad cow disease for sheep — for centuries.
—Jim Robbins, New York Times, 12 Nov. 2020
Mad cow disease, for example, is a prion disease that rooted from scrapie, a deadly disease that afflicts sheep.
—Fiza Pirani, ajc, 25 May 2018
Prions cause a variety of diseases in other animals, including Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (a prion disease in humans), scrapie (affecting sheep and goats), and chronic wasting disease (found in mule deer, elk, and reindeer).
—Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 26 Apr. 2018
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Susanne Rust, Los Angeles Times, 16 Apr. 2025
This is the clearest evidence yet that alpha-synuclein can behave like prions, the proteins that cause mad cow disease, scrapie and Creutzfeld-Jacob disease (CJD).
—Ed Yong, Discover Magazine, 16 Nov. 2012
In this way, SOD1 is a lot like prions, the infectious proteins behind mad cow disease, CJD and scrapie.
—Ed Yong, Discover Magazine, 14 Feb. 2011
Examples include mad cow disease, scrapie, Kuru, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
—William A. Haseltine, Forbes, 9 June 2022
Chronic wasting disease is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, similar to mad cow disease, scrapie and Creutzfeldt-Jakob.
—Paul A. Smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 18 Dec. 2021
Sheep have carried scrapie — effectively mad cow disease for sheep — for centuries.
—Jim Robbins, New York Times, 12 Nov. 2020
Mad cow disease, for example, is a prion disease that rooted from scrapie, a deadly disease that afflicts sheep.
—Fiza Pirani, ajc, 25 May 2018
Prions cause a variety of diseases in other animals, including Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (a prion disease in humans), scrapie (affecting sheep and goats), and chronic wasting disease (found in mule deer, elk, and reindeer).
—Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 26 Apr. 2018
Cite this Entry
“Scrapie.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scrapie. Accessed 14 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
scrapie
noun
scra·pie
ˈskrā-pē 
: a usually fatal prion disease of sheep and goats that is characterized by twitching, excitability, intense itching, excessive thirst, emaciation, weakness, and finally paralysis
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