mad cow disease vs BSE

mad cow disease and BSE both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
mad cow disease	Yes	No	No	No
BSE	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, mad cow disease and BSE are synonyms defined as:

mad cow disease and BSE: a fatal disease of cattle that affects the central nervous system; causes staggering and agitation

Other synonyms of mad cow disease include bovine spongiform encephalitis.

mad cow disease (noun)	BSE (noun)
a fatal disease of cattle that affects the central nervous system; causes staggering and agitation	a fatal disease of cattle that affects the central nervous system; causes staggering and agitation