noun General Slang

Zebra

· noun · medical

A rare diagnosis when the common one is far more likely.

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Definitions

1

A rare or exotic diagnosis that an over-keen doctor reaches for when the patient almost certainly has the boring common thing. Used as a warning ('stop zebra hunting') and as praise ('she nailed the zebra'). Med students love them; attendings make them rule out the horse first.

“Chest pain in a 55-year-old smoker isn't a zebra — book the troponin before you start googling porphyria.”
by community
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2

The patient with the rare disease itself — adopted as a badge of honour by communities like Ehlers-Danlos sufferers, who got tired of being dismissed as too unusual to be real.

“She's a zebra — three specialists missed the EDS before someone finally listened.”
by community
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Zebra In A Sentence

Chest pain in a 55-year-old smoker isn't a zebra — book the troponin before you start googling porphyria.
She's a zebra — three specialists missed the EDS before someone finally listened.

Origin & Usage

From Dr Theodore Woodward's late-1940s aphorism to his interns at Maryland: 'When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.' In Maryland, hoofbeats meant a horse. The Ehlers-Danlos community reclaimed the zebra as their mascot.

Variants zebra hunting
Tags #medical#hospital#diagnosis

People Also Ask

What does Zebra mean in medicine?

A Zebra is a rare diagnosis considered when a common, ordinary explanation is far more likely.

How do you use Zebra in a sentence?

"Don't go hunting for a Zebra when it's probably just the flu."

Where does the medical term Zebra come from?

It comes from the medical saying, 'When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras' — meaning favor the common diagnosis.

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