Premature ovarian failure in suspected Whipple's disease.
BACKGROUND
Whipple's disease is a relapsing systemic infectious disease probably caused by the Gram-positive bacillus Tropheryma whippelii. The diagnosis can be established based on the characteristic histopathological features found in the affected organ (foamy macrophages with a coarsely granular cytoplasm, which stains with PAS, and by means of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology).


METHODS
We report a case of a 23-year-old woman affected by suspected Whipple's disease. She presented encephalopathy and neuropathy with inveterate hyperpyrexia and alteration of the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovary axe. She was amenorrheic because of an hypergonadotropic hypogonadism.


CONCLUSIONS
This hypogonadism is possibly due to follicular depletion caused by inveterate hyperpyrexia or T. whipplii localization.
Ferrari
Stefano
S
Ob-Gyn Department, Vita-Salute University, H San Raffaele, Milan, Italy. stefano.ferrari@fastwebnet.it
Di Puppo
Francesca
F
Persico
Paola
P
Ferrari
Augusto
A
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007006:Hypogonadism / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D016649:Primary Ovarian Insufficiency / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D008061:Whipple Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis