Step 1: Whipple's disease is a systemic infection caused by the bacterium Tropheryma whipplei, classically affecting the small intestine and causing malabsorption, arthralgia and weight loss.
Step 2: The histological hallmark is the accumulation of foamy macrophages in the lamina propria that contain the organism. These macrophages stain strongly with periodic acid-Schiff (PAS), producing diastase-resistant, PAS-positive granules.
Step 3: A key distinguishing point is that these PAS-positive macrophages are non-acid-fast. This separates Whipple's disease from Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare infection in AIDS, whose macrophages are PAS-positive but also acid-fast.
Step 4: Crohn's disease shows transmural inflammation and non-caseating granulomas, not PAS-positive macrophages. Therefore the best single answer is Whipple's disease.