
Your small intestine is where food is absorbed.
Malabsorption is when you have trouble absorbing the nutrients in your food. Nutrients are things that provide nutrition to your body. They include protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals.
What is Whipple disease?
What are the symptoms of Whipple disease?
The main symptoms of Whipple disease are:
Other symptoms include:
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Fever
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Not feeling hungry
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Anemia (low red blood cell count), which may make you feel weak and tired
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Cough
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Swollen lymph nodes
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If the infection spreads to your brain—confusion or memory loss
How can doctors tell if I have Whipple disease?
Doctors diagnose Whipple disease by finding the bacteria that causes the disease in a biopsy sample taken from your small intestine. With a biopsy, doctors take a small sample of tissue using instruments on the end of an endoscope (a flexible viewing tube) and then look at the sample under a microscope.