Whipple's disease expert in the disease, applied novel diagnostic methods to stored tissue samples from Whipple's original patient, and demonstrated "T. whipplei" in these tissues. Whipple's disease Whipple's disease is a rare, systemic infectious disease caused by the bacterium "Tropheryma whipplei". First described by George Hoyt Whipple in 1907 and commonly considered a gastrointestinal disorder, Whipple's disease primarily causes malabsorption but may affect any part of the body including the heart, brain, joints, skin, lungs and the 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
Meningococcal disease of endemic meningococcal disease during the last 13 years ranges from 1 to 5 per 100,000 in developed countries, and from 10 to 25 per 100,000 in developing countries. During epidemics the incidence of meningococcal disease approaches 100 per 100,000. Meningococcal vaccines have sharply reduced the incidence of the disease in developed countries. The disease's pathogenesis is not fully understood. "Neisseria meningitidis" colonises a substantial proportion of the general population harmlessly, but in a very small percentage of individuals it can invade the bloodstream, affecting the entire body, most notably limbs and brain, causing serious illness. Over the past few