Tropheryma Whippelii - General Overview   Agron Plevneshi

Tropheryma whippelii (Tw) is a gram-positive bacterium, which has only recently been cultured and has been propagated in deactivated macrophages. On the basis of its 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequence, it is related to the group B actinomycetes and the family Cellulomonadaceaea.

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been used to identify Tw DNA in the intestinal tissue, peripheral blood, and cerebrospinal fluid of infected people. Tropheryma whippelii causes a rare disease called Whipple's disease, after the pathologist George Hoyt Whipple, who described it for the first time in 1907. The symptoms of this disease are malabsorption, weight loss, arthralgia, fevers, and abdominal pain. Any organ system can be affected, including the heart, lungs, skin, joints, and central nervous system. This disease can be fatal if not adequately treated with antibiotics. Fatality is most often related to a relapse in the nervous system which may occur months or years after successful treatment with antibiotics.