MAD COW DISEASE Definition & Meaning

mad cow disease

bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

mad cow disease

noun

an informal name for BSE

mad cow disease

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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.
Also called bovine spongiform encephalopathy

mad cow disease

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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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of mad cow disease¹

1985–90

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Example Sentences

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

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Tallow is not currently FDA-approved for topical use and may come with risks, especially if it’s sourced from cows with certain health conditions and diseases, like mad cow disease.

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Also known as “zombie deer disease,” chronic wasting disease is a contagious infection similar to mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

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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.

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The practice is banned in the United Kingdom, European Union and Canada, where fears of spreading bovine spongiform encephalitis — mad cow disease — made such practices seem too risky.

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