By David Liu, PHD

MOnday Oct 22, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Some cases of pulmonary hypertension may have something to do with Whipple's disease.  A case reported in Case Reports in Pulmonology suggests treating Whipple's disease with antibiotics completely cured pulmonary hypertension in a female patient.

A Villa from U.O. Medicina d'Urgenza e Pronto Soccorso, A. O. Fatebenefratelli, in Milano, Italy and colleagues reported that a 72-year-old women whose pulmonary hypertension was gone after Whipple's disease in the same patients was cured with antibiotic therapy.

The researchers said although Whipple's disease is not recognized as a risk factor for pulmonary hypertension, antibiotic treatment, which is often prescribed to patients with Whipple's disease, can be an effective therapy to treat pulmonary hypertension.  In the current case, antibiotic therapy cured both conditions.

The patient was admitted to the hospital after two months of weight loss, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, asthenia, inappetence, and fever, which are more or less commonly seen in patients with Whipple's disease.   She did not have dyspnoea or respiratory symptoms, but a casual echocardiogram showed that she got a pulmonary artery systolic pressure of 95 mmHg.

The patient was put on antibiotic therapy for 40 days and then an echocardiogram showed that right ventricular involvement was completely normalized.

Pulmonary hypertension was not commonly associated with Whipple's disease.

Whipple's disease is a rare yet potential fatal infectious disease caused by the bacterium Tropheryma whipplei.  The disease primarily causes nutrient malabsorption leading to common symptoms including diarrhea, abdominal pain, weight loss, arthritis, and joint pains, but can affect any part of the body including the heart, brain, lungs, skin, joints and the eyes.  Without treatment, the disease can lead to death.

In some cases, reversible pulmonary hypertension may have something to do with vitamin C  and iron deficiency.  A case reported in Chest suggests that a 40-year old woman who developed severe pulmonary hypertension and life-threatening right sided heart failure coupled with dietary scurvy and iron deficiency.

M. Kupari and J. Rapola of Helsinki University Central Hospital in Helsinki, Finland, authors of the case report, said oral vitamin C and iron supplements likely contributed to the complete cure of the patient's conditions.

Pulmonary hypertension refers to abnormally high blood pressure in the lung arteries, which makes it hard for the right side of the heart to function normally.  It is a serious condition and the long term prognosis is poor.  Child-bearing women with this condition should avoid getting pregnant because of potential implications.