Whipple disease – an important cause of culture negative endocarditis

Abstract

Whipple disease is a rare systemic disease caused by the bacterium Tropheryma whipplei with a range of clinical manifestations including diarrhoea, abdominal pain, arthralgia. There is increasing evidence that Whipple disease can present with isolated organ involvement, which may include culture negative endocarditis.1 We present a case of a 49-year-old female who presented with a prolonged history of progressive cardiac symptoms, found to have valve destruction and foamy macrophage infiltration of her aortic valve.