Tropical sprue is a rare acquired disease, probably of infectious etiology, characterized by malabsorption and megaloblastic anemia. Diagnosis is clinical and by small-bowel biopsy. Treatment is with tetracycline and folate for 6 mo.

Etiology

Tropical sprue occurs chiefly in the Caribbean, southern India, and Southeast Asia, affecting both natives and visitors. The illness is rare in visitors spending < 1 mo in areas where the disease is endemic. Although etiology is unclear, it is thought to result from chronic infection of the small bowel by toxigenic strains of coliform bacteria. Malabsorption of folate and vitamin B₁₂ deficiency result in megaloblastic anemia. Tropical sprue has rarely been reported in the US, and the incidence worldwide has been decreasing in recent decades, perhaps because of increasing use of antibiotics for acute traveler's diarrhea.

Symptoms and Signs

Patients commonly have acute diarrhea with fever and malaise. A chronic phase of milder diarrhea, nausea, anorexia, abdominal cramps, and fatigue follows. Steatorrhea is common. Nutritional deficiencies, especially of folate and vitamin B₁₂, eventually develop after several months to years. The patient may also have weight loss, glossitis, stomatitis, and peripheral edema.

Diagnosis

• Endoscopy with small-bowel biopsy
• Blood tests to screen for consequences of malabsorption

Tropical sprue is suspected in people who live in or have visited areas where the disease is endemic and who have megaloblastic anemia and symptoms of malabsorption. The definitive test is upper GI endoscopy with small-bowel biopsy. Characteristic histologic changes (see Table 3: Malabsorption Syndromes: Small-Bowel Mucosal Histology in Certain Malabsorptive Disorders) usually involve the entire small bowel and include blunting of the villi with infiltration of chronic inflammatory cells in the epithelium and lamina propria. Celiac disease and parasitic infection must be ruled out.

Additional laboratory studies (eg, CBC; albumin; Ca; PT; iron, folate, and B₁₂ levels) help evaluate nutritional status. Barium small-bowel follow-through may show segmentation of the barium, dilation of the lumen, and thickening of the mucosal folds. d-Xylose absorption is abnormal in > 90% of cases. However, these tests are not specific or essential for diagnosis.

Treatment

• Long-term tetracyclineSome Trade Names
  ACHROMYCIN V
  TETRACYN
  TETREX
  Click for Drug Monograph
  

Treatment is tetracyclineSome Trade Names
ACHROMYCIN V
TETRACYN
TETREX
Click for Drug Monograph
250 mg po qid for 1 or 2 mo, then bid for up to 6 mo, depending on disease severity and response to treatment. Folate 5 to 10 mg po once/day should be given for the first month along with vitamin B₁₂ 1 mg IM weekly for several weeks. Megaloblastic anemia promptly abates, and the clinical response is dramatic. Other nutritional replacements are given as needed. Relapse may occur in 20%. Failure to respond after 4 wk of therapy suggests another condition.

Last full review/revision August 2012 by Atenodoro R. Ruiz, Jr., MD

Content last modified November 2012