El reto de diagnosticar la enfermedad de Whipple

• Main Authors: Filipa Amado, Pedro Tavares, Carla Falcão, Alcina Ponte
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Galega de Medicina Interna 2021-07-01
• Series: Galicia Clínica
• Subjects: enfermedad de whipple; tropheryma whipplei; macrófagos pas-positivos; antibióticos
• Online Access: https://galiciaclinica.info/publicacion.asp?f=2221

Whipple´s Disease is a bacterial disease with particular involvement of small intestine, caused by the bacillus Tropheryma whipplei. Because it is rare and has nonspecific clinical manifestations, the diagnostic is usually late. Has good response to antibiotic therapy but can be fatal if not treated. It is necessary to monitor its clinical course for several years due to high risk of relapse. Authors describe the case of a female patient with intermittent diarrhea and abdominal pain for several years admitted with transient global amnesia, developed prominent gastrointestinal symptoms, and definitive diagnosis was only made by histology of duodenal biopsy fragments.