Background: Refractory arthritis is a common problem in routine rheumatology practice, and can be a diagnostic challenge. In these cases, chronic Tropheryma whipplei (T. whipplei) infection is an important differential diagnosis that should be considered.
Objective: Based on five clinical cases, this case-based review describes the diagnostic and therapeutic principles in the management of chronic T. whipplei infection.
Results: Whipple's disease is a multisystemic infectious disease caused by the bacterium T. whipplei. The disease typically manifests with arthralgia, weight loss and diarrhoea. Joint involvement often develops years before gastrointestinal symptoms occur. In addition to systemic manifestations ("classic Whipple's disease"), T. whipplei can also lead to localized joint infections without gastrointestinal involvement. Articular manifestations of systemic and localized T. whipplei infections are commonly misdiagnosed as a sign of various forms of autoimmmune arthritis.
Discussion: Whipple's disease and localized T. whipplei joint infection should be considered in the diagnostic work-up of refractory arthritis. Synovial fluid analysis by means of specific polymerase chain reaction-based testing for T. whipplei is diagnostically ground-breaking.
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10695860 | PMC |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00393-022-01194-5 | DOI Listing |
Radiol Case Rep
March 2025
Department of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.
Whipple's disease, caused by the gram-positive actinomycete , is a rare chronic systemic illness with significant diagnostic and therapeutic challenges, particularly when the CNS is involved. This case report details a 46-year-old man presenting with a constellation of symptoms including fatigue, hypersomnia, weight loss, bifrontal headaches, abdominal pain, treatment-unresponsive diarrhea, and skin hyperpigmentation. Neurological examination revealed oculomasticatory myorhythmia, and imaging studies showed nodular enhancement of the hypothalamus and basal ganglia, along with retroperitoneal lymphadenopathy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCase Rep Infect Dis
December 2024
WakeMed's Division of Infectious Diseases, WakeMed Health and Hospitals, 3000 New Bern Ave, Raleigh 27610, North Carolina, USA.
Whipple's disease is a rare bacterial infection that is often present for years prior to diagnosis. Symptoms are nonspecific in the early stages of presentation and are primarily gastrointestinal in nature. The disease may progress with more systemic symptoms including arthralgia, fever, lymphadenopathy, cardiovascular disease, and central nervous system involvement.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIDCases
December 2024
Department of Critical Care Medicine, Shandong Province Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, Shandong 250021, China.
() is extensively known as the etiological bacterium of Whipple's disease (WD). Here, we reported a case of community-acquired pneumonia caused by in a young pregnant woman without predisposing medical conditions. This case indicated that might be also transmitted via respiratory droplet.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Med Case Rep
December 2024
Jiangxi Medical Center for Critical Public Health Events, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330052, Jiangxi, People's Republic of China.
Background: Tropheryma whipplei pneumonia is an infrequent medical condition. The clinical symptoms associated with this disease are nonspecific, often resulting in misdiagnosis or missed diagnosis. Therefore, sharing and summarizing the experiences in the diagnosis and treatment of this disease can deepen global understanding and awareness of it.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Pulm Med
December 2024
Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, 154 Anshan Road, Heping District, Tianjin, China.
This report describes the case of a 41-year-old male patient complaining of a hacking cough. The patient was treated with a Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor for psoriasis. Blood tests revealed mild lymphopenia and high levels of serum cryptococcal antigen.
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