ABSTRACT
Whipple’s disease is a rare illness that occurs in less than one in 1,000,000 people and affects multiple organs and organ systems, predominantly in middle-aged men.1,2 It was Šrst described postmortem by Dr. George H. Whipple in 1907 in a 36-year-old male, who died following a 5-year illness with fever, chronic cough, lymphadenopathy, and progressive weight loss.3 Up until 1947, Whipple’s disease was only diagnosed at autopsy, and in 1949, the bacterium was Šrst detected as a period acid-Schiff positive (red staining) inclusion in foamy macrophages from an intestinal biopsy.4 DeŠnitive conŠrmation of the pathogen was Šrst obtained in 1961 by electron microscopic examination of the rod-shaped organism. Following the analysis of a short segment of the 16S ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) gene by broad-range polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing, the identity of the bacterium was conŠrmed as a member of the actinomycetes, and the name Tropheryma whippeli was proposed in 1992.5 “Tropheryma” is derived from the Greek words for food (trophi) and barrier (eryma). The current name Tropheryma whipplei was adopted in 20016 after its successful culture and propagation in a human embryonic lung Šbroblast cell line.7 Another group also reported the cultivation of the bacterium from cerebrospinal ³uid.8 The completion of the whole genome sequences of two T. whipplei strains in 20039,10 rendered it possible to devise a cell-free culture system supplemented with amino acids for in vitro growth of the bacterium.11
