Astroviridae is one of the most recently designed
virus families whose members include human and animal astroviruses.
These viruses are small in size and icosahedral in shape, and they are
named after their characteristic starlike surface structure (astron
is Greek for "star"). They are nonenveloped viruses whose genome
is composed of positive-sense, single-stranded RNA. Although they
are very similar to the viruses of the family Picornaviridae and
Caliciviridae, they have many important features that distinguish
themselves.
Astroviruses have been isolated from humans as well
as many other animal species. In most species, the astroviruses cause
gastroenteritis; however, in ducklings, astrovirus infection causes a fatal
hepatitis. In humans, astrovirus was recently found to be the second
most common cause (after rotavirus) of viral diarrhea in young children
in Thailand and Guatemala, establishing medical importance to astrovirus
infection.