Whipple's disease

noun

variants also Whipple disease

: a rare malabsorption syndrome that is caused by an actinomycetous fungus (Tropheryma whippelli) in the mucous membrane of the intestine, that affects primarily the small intestine but becomes more generalized affecting especially the joints, brain, liver, and heart, that is marked by the accumulation of lipid deposits in the intestinal lymphatic tissues, weight loss, joint pain, mental confusion, and generalized lymphadenopathy, and that is diagnosed by the presence of macrophages in the lamina propria of the small intestine which give a positive reaction to a periodic acid-Schiff test

called also intestinal lipodystrophy