Is the bacterium Tropheryma whipplei cause of the disease in a subgroup of patients with presumed sarcoidosis?

Introduction: Sarcoidosis is a granulomatous multiorgan disease of unknown cause. Recently we published a case report presenting a patient in whom a causal relationship between pulmonary sarcoidosis and infection with Tropheryma whipplei (T. whipplei) could be demonstrated1. To our best knowledge this is the first systematic study investigating the hypothesis, that in a subgroup of patients presumed sarcoidosis is caused by T. whipplei. Patients and Methods: A total of 56 consecutive patients in whom a diagnosis of sarcoidosis was suspected clinically and confirmed histologically were included in this retrospect…