1/227. Cardiac Whipple's disease without digestive symptoms. Whipple's disease is a systemic illness that can affect the heart, causing pericarditis, myocarditis, and valvular endocarditis. We describe a 43-year-old man without gastrointestinal symptoms who underwent mitral and aortic valve replacement for endocarditis, in whom a diagnosis of Whipple's disease was made at operation. ( info) |
2/227. Detection of tropheryma whippelii dna (Whipple's disease) in faeces. To date the diagnosis of Whipple's disease is based mainly on the histopathological analysis of duodenal biopsies since tropheryma whippelii cannot be cultured in vitro. We investigated the possibility to diagnose Whipple's disease by detection of bacterial dna in faces. Nested polymerase chain reaction with amplification of part of the 16S rRNA gene of this bacterium in dna extracted from faeces of a patient with Whipple's disease was performed. Sequencing of the polymerase chain reaction product revealed the sequence of tropheryma whippelii. We conclude that Whipple's disease will be able to be diagnosed non-invasively by dna analysis from the faeces as soon as more specific sequences of this bacteria are known. ( info) |
3/227. Whipple's disease mimicking progressive supranuclear palsy: the diagnostic value of eye movement recording. Treatable causes of parkinsonian syndromes are rare; Whipple's disease is one of them. A patient is described who presented with a parkinsonian syndrome and abnormal vertical gaze. Measurement of eye movements showed marked slowing of upward saccades, moderate slowing of downward saccades, a full range of voluntary vertical eye movements, curved trajectories of oblique saccades, and absence of square wave jerks. These features, atypical of progressive supranuclear palsy, suggested the diagnosis of Whipple's disease, which was subsequently confirmed by polymerase chain reaction analysis of intestinal biopsy material. Precise measurement of the dynamic properties of saccadic eye movements in parkinsonian patients may provide a means of identifying treatable disorders. ( info) |
| We describe 2 patients presenting with polyarthritis in whom the synovial fluid (1 patient) or synovial tissue (1 patient) was positive for tropheryma whippelii, the Whipple's disease-associated bacillus, when examined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and dna sequencing. Histopathologic findings were consistent with articular Whipple's disease in the synovial fluid of 1 patient and the synovial tissue of the other. In both patients, bowel mucosal specimens were negative for Whipple's disease features by histologic and PCR methods. One patient was positive for T whippelii in the peripheral blood. Control synovial fluid specimens from 40 patients with other arthritides, including Lyme arthritis, were negative. Sequencing of a 284-basepair region of the 16S ribosomal rna gene confirmed that the sequence is closely related to the known T whippelii sequence. Both patients responded to treatment with antibiotics. ( info) |
| rhodococcus equi pneumonia with systemic dissemination is being reported increasingly in immunocompromised patients. This is the first case report of disseminated R equi infection with biopsy documented involvement of the large intestine. The patient was a 46 year old male with AIDS who was diagnosed with cavitating pneumonia involving the left lower lobe. R equi was isolated in culture from the blood and lung biopsies. Subsequently, the patient developed anaemia, diarrhoea, and occult blood in the stool. colonoscopy revealed several colonic polyps. Histological examination of the colon biopsies showed extensive submucosal histiocytic infiltration with numerous Gram positive coccobacilli and PAS positive material in the histiocytes. Electron microscopy showed variably shaped intrahistiocytic organisms which were morphologically consistent with R equi in the specimen. Disseminated R equi infection may involve the lower gastrointestinal tract and produce inflammatory polyps with foamy macrophages which histologically resemble those seen in Whipple's disease and mycobacterium avium-intracellulare infection. ( info) |
6/227. Whipple endocarditis without overt gastrointestinal disease: report of four cases. BACKGROUND: Cardiac manifestations of whipple disease are rarely diagnosed before death. OBJECTIVE: To describe four patients with endocarditis caused by tropheryma whippelii who did not have overt gastrointestinal disease. DESIGN: Case series. SETTING: Five hospitals in eastern switzerland. patients: Three men and one woman undergoing replacement of insufficient heart valves. MEASUREMENTS: Histologic characteristics of heart valves and intestinal biopsy; broad-range and specific polymerase chain reaction for T. whippelii. RESULTS: tropheryma whippelii was found in the heart valves (three aortic valves and one mitral valve) of four patients with culture-negative endocarditis necessitating valve replacement. All patients had arthralgia for different lengths of time. Only one patient had mild gastrointestinal symptoms. Histologic characteristics of intestinal mucosa were normal in all patients, and polymerase chain reaction on intestinal biopsy was positive for T. whippelii in only one patient, who did not have diarrhea. In all patients, arthralgia resolved promptly after institution of antibiotic therapy. Disease did not recur in any patient after prolonged antibiotic therapy with cotrimoxazole. CONCLUSION: In patients with culture-negative endocarditis, the absence of clinical, microscopic, or microbiological evidence of gastrointestinal disease did not rule out T. whippelii. ( info) |
7/227. Relapsing Whipple's disease presenting with hypopituitarism. A 44-year-old man with a history of Whipple's disease 8 years ago presented with recurrent grand mal seizures and signs of hypopituitarism on physical examination. magnetic resonance imaging of the brain revealed a hypothalamic lesion of 1 cm diameter in the region of the rostral infundibulum. hypopituitarism was confirmed by low levels of serum cortisol, free testosterone and free thyroxine without an elevated TSH. Whipple encephalitis with hypothalamic involvement was suggested and verified by positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for tropheryma whippelii in the cerebrospinal fluid. PCR for T. whippelii has become an important diagnostic tool for establishing the diagnosis of Whipple's disease especially in patients with unusual presentations and if the diagnosis cannot be confirmed histologically. Whipple's disease should be included in the differential diagnosis in hypopituitarism caused by infectious disease. ( info) |
8/227. Whipple's disease presenting as sarcoidosis and valvular heart disease. Whipple's disease is a rare systemic disorder that can present in a variety of ways and is often difficult to diagnose. It can involve almost any organ system and can mimic other diseases both in its symptoms and pathologic appearance. We present a case initially diagnosed as sarcoidosis that was found to be Whipple's disease after pathologic examination of the patient's mitral and aortic valves. ( info) |
9/227. Hypertrophic osteoarthropathy can indicate recurrence of Whipple's disease. We report the case of a patient with Whipple's disease (WD) who developed hypertrophic osteoarthropathy (HOA) characterized by digital clubbing, periostosis of the tubular bones, and polysynovitis. The HOA disclosed the recurrence of the patient's WD, since polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis clearly demonstrated the presence of tropheryma whippelii in the synovial fluid from the patient's left knee. Initiation of appropriate antibiotic therapy resulted in complete healing of all clinical rheumatologic manifestations within 2 months and in disappearance of radiographic bone changes at 7-month followup. We suggest that HOA be included within the spectrum of rheumatologic manifestations of WD, and that an evaluation for WD should be considered in patients, especially middle-aged men, presenting with HOA even without gastrointestinal symptoms. PCR analysis may be useful in accurate diagnosis and management of early WD with unusual clinical manifestations, and may contribute to decreased morbidity and mortality. ( info) |
| Whipple's disease confined exclusively to the CNS without systemic involvement appears to be very rare, with only 8 cases reported in the literature. We present here a further case of primary cerebral Whipple's disease in which the neurological symptoms were seen in the absence of systemic involvement and emphasize the importance of diagnosing this treatable disease. ( info) |