Avian astrovirus(AAstV),a member of astroviridae family,includes a variety of subtypes,which may lead to avian nephritis,duck hepatitis,turkey diarrhea and other diseases. Such symptoms as growth retardation and decline in egg production even death may be observed in infected poultry,which would bring certain losses to breeding industry. In addition,the virus may bring potential risk to human. However,its pathogenic mechanism has been unknown,except the one for enteritis caused by Turkey astrovirus that may be used as a reference. The virus may be detected by many methods,such as electron microscopy,enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA),cell culture and virus isolation,molecular technology,etc. However,it would be difficult to develop vaccines or drugs due to many subtypes,which brings certain challenges to the prevention and treatment of the disease. In the paper,the etiology,epidemic status all over the world,clinical symptoms,pathogenic mechanism,detection methods and countermeasures were summarized,so as to provide a reference for further researches in the future.