Astroviruses are commonly spread through fecal-oral contamination. Following a 1-4 day incubation period, the clinical symptoms present as watery diarrhea that lasts for 2-3 days and resembles a mild Rotavirus infection.
While the disease is most often mild and does not result in severe dehydration, it can be more serious in immunocompromised children and adults, and elderly institutionalized patients. It appears to have a very low pathogenecity for adults.