Human Astrovirus VA1 Encephalitis in Pediatric Patients With Cancer: Report of 2 Cases and Review of the Literature

Sakshi Bami; Jennifer Hidinger; Arshia Madni; Virginia Hargest; Stacey Schultz-Cherry; Valerie Cortez; Shane J Cross; Deborah A Ward; Randall T Hayden; Jeffrey Rubnitz; Ching-Hon Pui; Raja B Khan; Diego R Hijano

doi:10.1093/jpids/piac045

Human Astrovirus VA1 Encephalitis in Pediatric Patients With Cancer: Report of 2 Cases and Review of the Literature

J Pediatric Infect Dis Soc. 2022 Sep 29;11(9):408-412. doi: 10.1093/jpids/piac045.

Authors

Sakshi Bami¹, Jennifer Hidinger², Arshia Madni^{1

3}, Virginia Hargest², Stacey Schultz-Cherry², Valerie Cortez⁴, Shane J Cross⁵, Deborah A Ward⁵, Randall T Hayden⁶, Jeffrey Rubnitz⁷, Ching-Hon Pui^{6

7}, Raja B Khan⁸, Diego R Hijano²

Affiliations

¹ Hospitalist Medicine Program, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
² Department of Infectious Diseases, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
³ Division of Quality of Life and Palliative Care, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
⁴ Department of Molecular and Cell & Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, California, USA.
⁵ Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
⁶ Department of Pathology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
⁷ Department of Oncology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
⁸ Division of Neurology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.

PMID: 35849135
DOI: 10.1093/jpids/piac045

Abstract

Novel human astroviruses (HAstVs) have recently been implicated as rare causes of fatal encephalitis in immunocompromised patients, for which there is no proven treatment. We report 2 cases from our institution in which HAstV-VA1 was detected in the cerebrospinal fluid by metagenomic next-generation sequencing after the initial evaluation revealed no etiology.

Keywords: VA1; astrovirus; cancer; children; encephalitis.

© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Publication types

Case Reports
Review

MeSH terms

Astroviridae Infections* / diagnosis
Child
Encephalitis*
Feces
Humans
Immunocompromised Host
Mamastrovirus* / genetics
Neoplasms*
Phylogeny