Whipple’s Disease: An Elusive Diagnosis of a Multisystem Presentation

Abstract

A 45-year-old female presented with diarrhoea and low-grade fever then progressively developed a constellation of seemingly unrelated symptoms and signs involving multiple body systems. Whipple’s disease was eventually diagnosed after lymph node and small bowel biopsies demonstrated periodic acid-Schiff stain positive macrophages. This case exemplifies the broad range of manifestations of this disease which contributes to its difficult, and often delayed, diagnosis.