Whipple’s Disease: Our Own Experience and Review of the Literature

Table 1

Characteristics of five patients with Whipple’s disease diagnosed in the period 1994–2013.

Patient	Gender	Age at the diagnosis; (time to diagnosis)	Clinical symptoms	Treatment	Outcome*
# 1	Male	49 years; (3 years)	Weight loss (20 kg); microcytic anaemia; metabolic bone disease	i.v. penicillin G + i.v. gentamicin for two weeks; p.o. doxycycline; (100 mg per day) +; p.o. salazopyrine; (3 g per day); for 1 year	Full remission
# 2	Male	53 years; (12 months)	Weight loss (11 kg); diarrhoea; microcytic anaemia; headache; dyspnoea; orthostatic hypotension; skin rash	i.v. amoxicillin-clavulanic acid + i.v. gentamicin for two weeks; p.o. doxycycline; (100 mg per day) +; p.o. salazopyrine; (3 g per day); for 1 year	Full remission
# 3	Male	44 years; (6 months)	Weight loss (18 kg); diarrhoea; severe malabsorption; severe kwashiorkor-type; malnutrition; metabolic bone disease	i.v. amoxicillin-clavulanic acid + i.v. gentamicin for two weeks; p.o. doxycycline; (100 mg per day) +; p.o. salazopyrine; (3 g per day); for 1 year	Full remission
# 4	Female	58 years; (6 months)	Arthralgias; weight loss (10.5 kg); diarrhoea; malnutrition; microcytic anaemia	i.v. amoxicillin-clavulanic acid + i.v. gentamicin for two weeks; p.o. doxycycline; (100 mg per day) +; p.o. salazopyrine; (3 g per day); for 1 year	Full remission
# 5	Female	24 years**; (12 months)	Arthralgias; peripheral and abdominal lymph nodes; muscle weakness; fatigue	i.v. penicillin G + i.v. gentamicin for two weeks; p.o. doxycycline; (100 mg per day) +; p.o. salazopyrine; (3 g per day); for 1 year	Full remission

Notes. ∗Clinical, endoscopic, and laboratory outcome after one year of treatment.
**Patient no. 5: a 59-year-old female was referred to our University Department because of the second relapse of Whipple’s disease after 18 years (the first onset at 24 and the first relapse at 41 years).