Toward a new understanding of Whipple's disease.

Since the first successful antibiotic treatment of Whipple's disease in 1952, many breakthroughs have occurred in the diagnosis and treatment of this disease that was once thought fatal. This article provides a historic overview and highlights recent encouraging discoveries regarding this underdiagnosed disease, including the use of polymerase chain reaction techniques and the recent cultivation of the Tropheryma whippelii bacterium.