More and more people are now being conscious of their health. Now here’s one of the diseases that might affect you without even knowing it – the Whipple’s disease.
According to en.wikipedia.org:
Whipple’s disease is a rare, systemic infectious disease caused by the bacterium Tropheryma whipplei. Commonly considered a gastrointestinal disorder, Whipple’s disease primarily causes malabsorption but may affect any part of the body including the heart, lungs, brain, joints, and eyes. Weight loss, diarrhea, joint pain, and arthritis are common presenting symptoms, but the presentation can be highly variable and approximately 15% of patients do not have these classic signs and symptoms. Whipple’s disease is significantly more common in men, with 87% of patients being male. When recognized and treated, Whipple’s disease can usually be cured with long-term antibiotic therapy; untreated the disease is ultimately fatal.
Symptoms may inlude:
- Arthralgias or a migratory, non-deforming Arthritis occurs in 80% and is typically the first symptom experienced. It may be transient or chronic.
- Malabsorption
- Intestinal lipodystrophy (accumulation of fatty deposits in lymph nodes of the intestine)
- Lymphadenopathy
- Abdominal pain
- Diarrhea
- Fever
- Melanoderma
- Neurological symptoms
- Cognitive changes
- Nystagmus
- Oculomasticatory myorhythmia (OMM) (pendular vergence oscillations of the eyes and synchronous contractions of the masticatory but not palatal muscles) is pathognomonic of Whipple disease.
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Post Published: 09 March 2010
Author: Yashika Bennet
Found in section: Health and Medicine, Science
Tags: sandra bullock oscar, whipple s disease symptoms, wibbles disease, wimbles disease, wimples disease
