“When you hear hoofs, think horse, not zebra” or how the fear of Covid-19 makes the diferential diagnosis of well-known diseases difficult

Abstract

We present a clinical case of a young patient with anamnestic and clinical data for pulmonary embolism (PE). In the course of the differential diagnostic clarification of the etiological cause, there was a doubt as to what could be the cause of the embolism: deep vein thrombosis, Covid-19 infection or post-vaccination reaction. Adequate and optimal therapy was started, while additional studies were conducted to determine the etiological cause. With this clinical case, we aim to demonstrate the impact of global fear of Covid-19 on the treatment of other well-studied and clarified diseases.