Human astrovirus infection often causes outbreaks of self limiting diarrhoea, but may also infect patients who are immunodeficient or immunocompromised. Although there are previous publications relating to various aspects of astroviruses, there is a minimal amount of literature on the histopathological features of gastrointestinal astrovirus infection in humans. We report the histopathological ...

The prevalence of the recently identified astrovirus MLB1 in a cohort of children with diarrhea in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, was defined by reverse transcription-PCR. Of 254 stool specimens collected in 2008, 4 were positive for astrovirus MLB1. These results show that astrovirus MLB1 is circulating in North America.

To understand astrovirus biology, it is essential to understand factors associated with its evolution. The current study reports the genomic sequences of nine novel turkey astrovirus (TAstV) type 2-like clinical isolates. This represents, to our knowledge, the largest genomic-length data set available for any one astrovirus type. The comparison of these TAstV sequences suggests that the TAstV s...

We used an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) to screen for astrovirus in stool specimens from outbreaks and sporadic cases of gastroenteritis collected between 1982 and 1992 in six prefectural public health institutes in Japan. Three outbreaks of gastroenteritis involving schoolchildren and adults were confirmed to be attributable to astrovirus. Astrovirus was detected in 6 to 10% of the specimens from ...

Astroviruses are nonenveloped particles with a distinctive star-shaped surface structure that have been detected by electron microscopy in stool samples from humans and animals with gastroenteritis. We examined the patterns of macromolecular synthesis in astrovirus-infected cells with a goal of establishing a molecular basis for taxonomic classification. Trypsin is required for continuous repli...

BACKGROUND Congenital tremor is associated with demyelination of the brain and spinal cord and is clinically noted as outbreaks of trembling and shaking in newborn piglets during a limited time-period. Six forms of the disease have been described, where form AII may be caused by an, as yet, unidentified viral infection. This study aimed to investigate the presence of astrovirus and circovirus b...

Astrovirus has been reported to be associated with diarrhea in pigs. The current study was conducted for the detection and molecular characterization of astroviruses in diarrheic pigs submitted to the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, University of Minnesota. Intestinal contents from 269 pigs were examined by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and 62% were found positive ...

Astroviruses are a major cause of diarrhea in the young, elderly, and the immunocompromised. Since the discovery of human astrovirus type 1 (HAstV-1) in 1975, the family Astroviridae has expanded to include two more human clades and numerous mammalian and avian-specific genotypes. Despite this, there is still little known about pathogenesis. The following review highlights the current knowledge...

The disease mechanisms associated with the onset of astrovirus diarrhea are unknown. Unlike other enteric virus infections, astrovirus infection is not associated with an inflammatory response or cellular damage. In vitro studies in differentiated Caco-2 cells demonstrated that human astrovirus serotype 1 (HAstV-1) capsid protein alone disrupts the actin cytoskeleton and tight junction complex,...

Human astrovirus infection often causes outbreaks of self limiting diarrhoea, but may also infect patients who are immunodeficient or immunocompromised. Although there are previous publications relating to various aspects of astroviruses, there is a minimal amount of literature on the histopathological features of gastrointestinal astrovirus infection in humans. We report the histopathological ...