zebra
In medicine, a common disease presenting with unusual symptoms. Also applies to a patient with symptoms common to several diseases in which the first diagnosis is of a rare or obscure disease, when the truth is a more mundane disorder.
The term was popularised by Scrubs.
Derived from the axiom "When you hear hoofbeats, think 'horses', not 'zebras'.
The term was popularised by Scrubs.
Derived from the axiom "When you hear hoofbeats, think 'horses', not 'zebras'.
If a patient presents with vomiting, dairrhoea, and fever, West Nile Virus is a zebra; they're more likely to have enteropathogenic E. coli infection.
zebra by Rhodoferax October 24, 2008
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