Potential and latent coeliac disease

This case report details a child with coeliac disease and giardiasis. Treatment of the infection without recourse to a gluten-free diet cured the symptoms of diarrhoea and returned the small intestinal morphology to normal. Thus, the patient moved from active to latent coeliac disease. Potential and latent forms of coeliac disease are being increasingly recognized, since markers have become available to identify patients and investigations developed to test for gluten sensitivity in the small intestinal mucosa. This case provides an opportunity to consider potential and latent forms of coeliac disease and how these impact on clinical practice and the wider understanding of the disorder. (C) 2001 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.