A NEW method of diagnosis for a rare disease has been discovered at a Barwon Health laboratory.<\/p>\n
Barwon Health’s Australian Rickettsial Reference Laboratory (ARRL) has uncovered a simpler method to diagnose Whipple’s disease without invasive, expensive and painful procedures for patients.<\/p>\n
Whipple’s disease is a rare disease, caused by Tropheryma whippeli bacteria.<\/p>\n
Once contracted, the disease can have a devastating effect, with symptoms ranging from chronic diarrhoea to severe joint pain, to endocarditis, to neurological abnormalities, and even death.<\/p>\n
Professor Stephen Graves, Medical Director of the ARRL located at Barwon Health, said he decides to flip conventional diagnostic methods to help diagnose the disease quicker.<\/p>\n
He did this by testing the lack of antibodies in a susceptible person’s blood, rather than the presence of the antibodies and said the results were striking.<\/p>\n
“Blood taken from people with Whipple’s Disease had significantly lower IgG antibody levels than blood taken from people without Whipple’s disease,” Professor Graves said.<\/p>\n
“This novel finding means that if someone has symptoms that suggest possible Whipple’s disease, a simple blood test may now be used to exclude the disease, instead of a biopsy, and could be used as the first step towards the diagnosis.<\/p>\n
“If their antibodies are found to be high, they are actually unlikely to have Whipple’s disease and would not need to undergo a biopsy.<\/p>\n
“If their antibody levels are low, they may have the genetic mutation and therefore are a possible Whipple’s disease case and may need a biopsy to confirm or refute the diagnosis.”<\/p>\n
Professor Graves and his colleague Dr Kwee Chin Liew’s team investigated the novel hypothesis and developed a simple diagnostic test.<\/p>\n
For three years, the team compared blood samples from Whipple’s disease patients in Australia with blood samples from healthy people.<\/p>\n
Dr Liew and Professor Graves have published their findings in the Australian peer-reviewed journal Pathology.<\/p>\n
The test is currently available at the ARRL at Barwon Health and will continue to be validated to ensure that it is indeed a useful method of diagnosing Whipple’s disease.<\/p>\n
Professor Graves and Dr Liew and their colleagues are now continuing their hard work towards fighting other rare and serious diseases including Q fever and rickettsial infections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A NEW method of diagnosis for a rare disease has been discovered at a Barwon Health laboratory. Barwon Health’s Australian Rickettsial Reference Laboratory (ARRL) has uncovered a simpler method to diagnose Whipple’s disease without invasive, expensive and painful procedures for patients. Whipple’s disease is a rare disease, caused by Tropheryma whippeli bacteria. Once contracted, the […]<\/p>\n