Pleuropulmonary Whipple's disease.

Patients with Whipple's disease usually have gastrointestinal complaints. A broad array of extraintestinal symptoms may precede gastrointestinal complaints by years. In the patient described herein, five years of polyserositis evolved into a nearly fatal illness. Electron microscopy of an intra-abdominal lymph node biopsy led to diagnosis and successful therapy.