Open AccessWhipple�s disease: when diarrhea is absent
Author(s) -
Sagrario María Santos Seoane,
Rocío Martínez Gutiérrez,
Victoria Ines Venta Menéndez
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
revista española de enfermedades digestivas/revista española de enfermedades digestivas
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.331
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 2340-4167
pISSN - 1130-0108
DOI - 10.17235/reed.2019.6015/2018
Subject(s) - medicine , whipple's disease , tropheryma whipplei , diarrhea , disease , whipple disease , abdominal pain , joint pain , chronic diarrhea , pediatrics , intestinal malabsorption , coeliac disease
Whipple's disease is a rare bacterial, chronic and multisystemic disease, produced by the gram-positive bacillus Tropheryma whipplei. The clinical manifestations are varied and diagnosis is often delayed. The four cardinal symptoms are arthralgias, weight loss, diarrhea and abdominal pain. The classic symptoms could be preceded up to three quarters by different joint manifestations that evolve intermittently. The average time to diagnosis is 6 years. We present the case of a young patient with recurrent febrile episodes and associated joint disease, in whom the absence of digestive symptoms led to a diagnostic laparoscopy since this entity was not suspected before.