Whipple's disease is a rare systemic disease caused by the bacillus Tropheryma whippelii.
The disease usually has an insidious course with consequent delay in diagnosis. Initial features are non-specific with arthralgia, fever, malaise, cough and pleuritic chest pain. Characteristic small bowel dysfunction may occur between 1 and 10 years after onset. Histology of a small bowel biopsy is usually diagnostic.
Treatment consists of longterm broad spectrum antibiotics.
Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.