[Whipple's disease].

With regard to three cases, one of them relapsing after four years, a short survey on Whipples's disease is given. The 3 male patients of medium age suffered from malabsorption and foregoing arthralgia. These symptoms are typical. In most cases first of all chronic infectious or neoplastic diseases are taken into consideration. The finding of PAS-positive macrophages in biopsies of the duodenal mucosa is key to the diagnosis, allowing the successful antibiotic therapy, with preference to oxytetracyline.