Coeliac disease sufferers may soon have a cure.

With no treatments available, patients must eliminate all gluten from their diet to avoid the disease's crippling symptoms.

Yet, scientists may be one step closer to developing a vaccine after researchers from the University of Chicago found that Coeliac disease could be caused by a virus, not just genetics.

The common but harmless virus, known as the reovirus, may cause our immune systems to reject gluten. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye.

The scientists believe children are commonly infected with the reovirus around the same time that gluten is introduced into their diet, which could trigger the condition in genetically predisposed people.

Coeliac disease may soon have a vaccine as scientists discover a virus could cause the illness

WHAT IS COELIAC DISEASE? Coeliac disease is a digestive condition that causes the small intestine to become inflamed It is caused by a reaction to gluten Around one in a 100 people in the UK are affected Symptoms include diarrhoea, abdominal pain and flatulence As there is no cure, sufferers must eliminate all gluten from their diet Source: NHS Choices Advertisement

Study author Dr Bana Jabri said: 'During the first year of life, the immune system is still maturing, so for a child with a particular genetic background, getting a particular virus at that time can leave a kind of scar that then has long term consequences.

'That's why we believe that once we have more studies, we may want to think about whether children at high risk of developing Coeliac disease should be vaccinated.'

The scientists infected mice with two strains of the reovirus, which can also affect humans.

One of the strains caused the mice's immune systems to act against gluten, triggering a Coeliac-like condition.

Sufferers are currently forced to cut gluten out of their diet to avoid agonising symptoms

This comes after research suggests that only 24 per cent of Coeliac disease sufferers have been diagnosed.

That means as many as half-a-million people in the UK may have the condition and not know it.