GRANULOMATOUS ENCEPHALITIS IN WHIPPLES DISEASE - ELECTRON MICROSCOPIC OBSERVATIONS

Among the 21 autopsied cases of Whipple's disease on file at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, 4 had neurological symptoms and prominent involvement of the central nervous system, By light microscopy the lesions were composed of nodular aggregates of macrophages having cytoplasm that stained a distinctive pale blue with hematoxylin-eosin and bright red with the periodic acid-Schiff technique. By electron microscopy the cerebral lesions revealed bacilli morphologically identical to and undergoing the same sequence of degenerative changes as those observed in the intestine. The periodic acid-Schiff reaction stains the walls and the capsular material that persists even after intact organisms disappear. These observations further support the infectious nature of Whipple's disease. © 1969 Springer-Verlag.