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HUMAN ASTROVIRUS VA1 ENCEPHALITIS IN PEDIATRIC CANCER PATIENTS: REPORT OF TWO CASES AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
  • +10
  • Sakshi Bami,
  • Jennifer Hidinger,
  • Arshia Madni ,
  • Virginia Hargest,
  • Stacey Schultz-cherry,
  • Valerie Cortez,
  • Shane Cross,
  • Deborah Ward,
  • Randall Hayden,
  • Jeffrey Rubnitz,
  • Ching-Hon Pui,
  • Raja Khan,
  • Diego Hijano
Sakshi Bami
St Jude Children's Research Hospital

Corresponding Author:sakshi.bami@stjude.org

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Jennifer Hidinger
St Jude Children's Research Hospital
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Arshia Madni
St Jude Children's Research Hospital
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Virginia Hargest
St Jude Children's Research Hospital
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Stacey Schultz-cherry
St Jude Children's Research Hospital
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Valerie Cortez
St Jude Children's Research Hospital
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Shane Cross
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
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Deborah Ward
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
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Randall Hayden
St Jude Children's Research Hospital
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Jeffrey Rubnitz
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
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Ching-Hon Pui
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
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Raja Khan
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
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Diego Hijano
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
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Abstract

Novel human astrovirus (HAstV) strains have been recently shown to cause fatal encephalitis in immunocompromised patients. We report two cases from our institution. A 2-year old female undergoing treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia and a 9-year old male with refractory acute myeloid leukemia. Both were found to have HAstV-VA1 in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) by metagenomics next generation sequencing (m-NGS) after the initial evaluation did not reveal any etiology. Patient 1 remains alive, in remission, showing gradual neurological improvement after treatment with steroids, intravenous immunoglobulin, ribavirin, nitazoxanide and Peg-INF-alpha 2b. Patient 2 died 7 weeks later while receiving palliative care.