Abstract
Whipple's disease is a systemic, rare, chronic and infectious disease caused by the bacterium Tropheryma whipplei, member of the order of Actinomycetos.1 The discovery of Whipple's disease and its causative bacterium, Tropheryma whipplei, is an excellent example of how modern technologies have contributed to medical knowledge. Although Whipple's disease was first described in 1907, the first successful cultivation of Tropheryma whipplei took place almost a century later, in the year 2000.2 The disease has an age of presentation mainly between 40 and 60 years, with an average age at the beginning of 50 years. The man to woman ratio is approximately 8: 1.3 By the year 2007, only about 1000 cases have been reported.4 Because of the disease´s exceptionally low incidence, it was decided to make this case report to make the medical community aware of how diverse the clinical presentation of the disease may be.