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. 2000 Feb;38(2):595–599. doi: 10.1128/jcm.38.2.595-599.2000

TABLE 1.

Source and characterization of “T. whippelii”-positive specimens

Patient
Specimen(s)
Results of “T. whippelii” testing by PCR and sequencing
No. WDa Origin Code Histologyb 16S rDNA fragment
16S-23S rDNA spacer
23S rDNA domain IIIc
PCRd Sequencinge PCRf Typeg PCR Type
1 + Heart valve 724/98 Gram+ + EUB + 1 + A
PEh heart valve 838/98 Gram+ + NDk + 1 + A
2 + Duodenum (I) 5713/96 Normal + ND + 1 + A
Duodenum (II) 5974/96 Normal +i ND − ND + A
3 − Duodenum 735II/97 PAS− + ND − 1 + A
Gastric aspirate 736/97 ND + TW − ND + A
4 − Gastric aspirate (I) 616/97 ND + ND + 1 + A
Gastric aspirate (II) 616II/97 ND + ND + 1 + A
5 + Small intestine 368/97 Normal + TW + 1 + A
6 + PE Duodenum 459-98 ND + TWj + 1 + A
7 + PE Duodenum 836-96 ND + TWj + 1 + A
8 + PE Duodenum 4549-94 ND + TWj + 1 + A
9 − Ileum 168/97 Normal + TW + 1 + A
Jejunum 198/97 Normal + ND − 1 + A
Duodenum 995/98 Normal + ND − ND + A
10 + Cerebrospinal fluid 141/97 Normal + TW + 1 + A
11 + Small intestine 5766/96 Normal +i ND + 1 + A
Synovial fluid 5831/96 Normal + EUB + 1 + A
12 − Gastric aspirate 1073/97 ND + TW + ND + A
13 − Gastric aspirate 761/97 ND + TW − ND + A
14 + Ileum 2249/96 Normal + ND + 2 + A
15 + Intraoperative swab 875/98 ND + ND + 2 + A
Synovial fluid (I) 749/98 ND + EUB + 2 + A
Synovial fluid (II) 935/98 ND + ND + 2 + A
Synovial fluid (III) 936/98 ND + ND + 2 + A
16 − Gastric aspirate 895/97 ND + ND + 2 + A
17 − Small intestine 5996/96 Normal + TW + 2 + A
Ileum 135/97 Normal + TW + ND + A
18 − Duodenum 604/97 PAS− + TW + 2 + A
19 − Gastric aspirate 1092/97 ND + TW + 2 + A
20 − Gastric aspirate 1037/97 ND + TW + 2 + A
21 + Cerebrospinal fluid 20/98 ND + ND + 2 + A
22 + Synovial fluid 21/98 ND + ND + 2 + A
23 + EDTA blood 24/98 ND + ND + 2 + A
24 + Heart valve 5194/95 PAS+ + EUB + 2 + A
25 − Duodenum 771/97 PAS− + TW + 2 + ND
Ileum 905/97 PAS− + TW + ND + A
26 + Duodenum 220/97 Normal + TW + 3 + A
27 − Gastric aspirate 672/97 ND + TW + 3 + A
28 − Gastric aspirate (I) 532/97 ND + TW + 3 + B
Gastric aspirate (II) 952/97 ND + TW + 3 + B
a

Presence (+) or absence (−) of Whipple's disease (WD) based on overall assessment of the patient including clinical and laboratory data. Most patients without Whipple's disease come from a prospective study (7). 

b

Overall histologic assessment or result of Gram or PAS stain. 

c

Products and sequence types obtained by species-specific nested PCR by using primer pairs HGC-23InsF and TW-23InsR1, followed by TW-23InsF and TW-23InsR2 and direct sequencing. Specimens 724/98 (patient 1), 368/97 (patient 5), 168/97 (patient 9), 5996/96 (patient 17), 1037/97 (patient 20), 5194/95 (patient 24), 220/97 (patient 26), 532/97 (patient 28), and 952/97 (patient 28) were previously investigated by using the same approach (Henrikson et al., submitted). 

d

Species-specific seminested PCR (2). 

e

Partial 16S rDNA sequence identical to “T. whippelii” reference sequence (18) for TW-4 and TW-2 (TW) fragment or broad-range (EUB) amplicon as described previously by Brändle et al. (2) and Goldenberger et al. (9), respectively. 

f

Species-specific nested PCR (12). 

g

Classification by means of “T. whippelii” spacer type-specific nested PCR assays (12). 

h

PE, paraffin-embedded. 

i

Species-specific PCR with primer pair TW-1 and TW-3 (1). 

j

Partial 16S rDNA sequence identical to “T. whippelii” reference sequence (17) as determined via a species-specific approach (10). 

k

ND, no data available.