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Whipple's disease revisited

S A Misbah¹ and N P Mapstone¹

¹ Yorkshire Regional Immunology Service and Molecular Pathology, The Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust, Leeds General Infirmary, Leeds LS1 3EX, UK

Correspondence to:
Dr Misbah sirajm{at}pathology.leeds.ac.uk

Whipple's disease has traditionally been considered to be a rare multisystem disorder dominated by malabsorption. The recent identification of the Whipple's disease bacillus has, using polymerase chain reaction based assays, fuelled advances in the investigation, diagnosis, and management of this disease. This leader reviews the aetiology, clinical manifestations, investigation, and treatment of Whipple's disease in the light of this new information.

Key Words: Tropheryma whippelii • immune system • polymerase chain reaction

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