investigations
Last reviewed 01/2018
The investigation of Whipple's disease demonstrates:
- rheumatoid factor negative
- small intestinal biopsy reveals:
- minimal villous atrophy
- PAS positive staining foamy macrophages with intracellular bacilli
It has been shown recently that a definitive diagnosis may be made using PCR amplification and sequencing of unique sequences of 16s rRNA. This approach permits diagnosis from a sample of peripheral blood.