Undiagnosed Whipple’s disease with a lethal outcome

Česká verze

Authors: Daniel Farkaš ¹; Marián Švajdler ml. ²; Silvia Farkašová Iannaccone ³; Peter Labaj ¹
Authors place of work: Úrad pre dohľad nad zdravotnou starostlivosťou, SLaPA pracovisko, Košice ¹; Oddelenie patológie UN LP Košice, Košice ²; Ústav súdneho lekárstva UPJŠ LF, Košice ³
Published in the journal: Čes.-slov. Patol., 49, 2013, No. 2, p. 95-98
Category: Původní práce

Summary

Whipple’s disease is a rare multisystem disease caused by rod-shaped bacteria Tropheryma whipplei. Although it affects all age groups, the typical patient is a middle-aged white man. The clinical signs are very heterogeneous and depend on the stage of the disease. The most common is abdominal manifestation characterized by weight loss, disability, chronic diarrhea and abdominal pain. Untreated Whipple’s disease is almost always fatal. We describe probably the first published case of undiagnosed Whipple’s disease with a lethal outcome in Slovakia, occuring in a 33-year old white man with involvement of the gastrointestinal tract, abdominal lymphatic nodes and brain, who died of bronchopneumonia.

Keywords:
Whipple’s disease –⁠ Tropheryma whipplei –⁠ neuropathology

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