Tropheryma whipplei
Tropheryma whipplei, formerly called Tropheryma whippelii, is a bacterium and the causative organism of Whipple's disease and, rarely, of endocarditis.
While T. whipplei is categorized with the Gram-positive Actinobacteria, the organism is commonly found to be Gram-positive or Gram-indeterminate when stained in the laboratory. Whipple himself probably observed the organisms as rod-shaped structures with silver stain in his original case.No name was given to the organism until 1991 when the name Tropheryma whippelii was proposed after sections of the bacterial genome were sequenced. The name was changed to Tropheryma whipplei in 2001 when the organism was deposited in bacterial collections.Pathogenesis
Several strains of Tropheryma whipplei have been sequenced.
