Acute encephalopathy in an immunocompromised boy with astrovirus-MLB1 infection detected by next generation sequencing

•Astrovirus-MLB1 was associated with encephalopathy in an immunocompromised boy.•Diagnosis of astrovirus infection was confirmed by next generation sequencing.•Astroviruses are important agents of encephalopathy in immunocompromised hosts.

We report a case of an immunodeficient 4-year-old boy with acute encephalopathy possibly related to human astrovirus-MLB1 infection. The astrovirus-MLB1 genome was identified in his stool, serum, cerebrospinal fluid, urine, and throat swabs by next generation sequencing. We present additional evidence showing human astroviruses are important infectious agents, regardless of their clades, involving the central nervous system in immunocompromised hosts.