risk

The chance of an unfavorable event occurring.

• acceptable r. — risk for which the benefits rank larger than the potential hazards.
• at r. — that part of a total population which is subject to the disease being reviewed, e.g. only milking cows are at risk to milk fever, only grazing cows to enzootic nasal granuloma.
• r. aversion — reluctance to take risks.
• r. factor — an attribute or exposure which increases the probability of occurrence of a disease or other outcome.
• r. premium — the amount of money required to convince a person to take a specific risk.
• r. ratio — the ratio of two risks.
• relative r. — see relative risk.
• specified r. materials — a term used in the US to denote tissues that can be infected with the agent of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), namely brain and spinal cord, spinal ganglia, retina, and terminal small intestine. Banned from inclusion in any feed stuff.
• surgical r. — an animal that has poor general health and must be assessed as a poor survival risk to undergo major surgery or anesthesia.