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. 1975 Sep 6;3(5983):568–570. doi: 10.1136/bmj.3.5983.568

Isolation and characterization of an aetiological agent in Whipple's disease.

R L Clancy, W A Tomkins, T J Muckle, H Richardson, W E Rawls
PMCID: PMC1674489  PMID: 51663

Abstract

A cell wall deficient form of an alpha-haemolytic streptococcus was grown from a prolonged monolayer cell culture of a lymph node taken from a patient with Whipple's disease. Serological cross reactivity was shown between the organism and the material within Whipple's disease macrophages positive for diastase-resistant periodic acid-Schiff (D./P.A.S.). In vitro studies characterized the organism as a facultative intracellular parasite which caused the accumulation within cells of D./P.A.S.-positive material. These results suggest that a pathogenic bacterium is the essential aetiological agent and that the culture of Whipple's disease tissues in hypertonic media may have practical value.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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