A new strain of the most common cause of viral gastroenteritis, norovirus, has been detected in Victoria and health experts warn it could become an epidemic.

It was first detected in August last year but scientists warned it could become an epidemic in the next few months.

Director of the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory and Co-Deputy Director of the Doherty Institute, Dr Mike Catton said because it was a new strain of the virus, very few people would be immune.

“Pretty much everyone in the community will be susceptible to it,” he said.

“Norovirusus are so infectious that when a significant new strain emerges it tends to go global and be a worldwide phenomenon.”

“We think it is a major reshuffle of the genetic information of that virus, something that nobody in the community would be immune to and therefore we have a risk of a potential sizeable outbreak.”

Scientists said while it was not possible to be certain, the outbreak could start between two to seven months from now.

“We call it a two-bucket virus because it’s diarrhoea and vomiting and you’d certainly feel unwell while you’ve got it.”

For most people, the vomiting and diarrhoea symptoms would be expected to last between one and two days.

But the elderly, young or immuno-compromised would be at greater risk.

“Generally it’s a pretty brief disease for most people,” Dr Catton said.

“The peak infectious [period] continues for a day or two after that and that’s why the advice for cases is to not prepare food or to go to their work as a healthcare worker or as a childcare workers.”

There is no drug or vaccine to prevent the virus, so Dr Catton said hygiene, especially hand washing, would be vital.

The virus has not yet been officially named but is provisionally called “Melbourne 2016” in line with virology naming conventions, where a virus is named after where it first appears.

• ABC