Potential Role for Urine Polymerase Chain Reaction in the Diagnosis of Whipple's Disease.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Whipple's disease (WD) is a rare infection with Tropheryma whipplei that is fatal if untreated. Diagnosis is challenging and currently based on invasive sampling. In a case of WD diagnosed from a kidney biopsy, we observed morphologically-intact bacteria within the glomerular capsular space and tubular lumens. This raised the questions of whether renal filtration of bacteria is common in WD and whether polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing of urine might serve as a diagnostic test for WD.

Methods

We prospectively investigated urine samples of 12 newly-diagnosed and 31 treated WD patients by PCR. As controls, we investigated samples from 110 healthy volunteers and patients with excluded WD or acute gastroenteritis.

Results

Out of 12 urine samples from inde

SUBMITTER: Moter A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6424077 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature