Hundreds of cases of cytomegalovirus (CMV) are likely being missed each year in Australia, according to the study.
PREGNANT women and newborns should be screened for a virus that causes brain damage and deafness, doctors say.
A study published in the The Medical Journal of Australiayesterday says hundreds of cases of cytomegalovirus (CMV) are likely being missed each year in Australia because of a lack of screening, denying babies treatment for the condition.
A virologist with the University of NSW, Professor William Rawlinson, says a 10-year surveillance project between 1999 and 2009 shows that while Australia is estimated to have about 1800 cases a year, only five to 25 are being diagnosed.
Over the decade-long study, doctors reported a total of 363 cases to the surveillance project team.
While 90 per cent had symptoms of the virus, only 15 of the babies, or 8 per cent, were given antiviral treatment.
CMV is a common viral infection that causes flu-like or no symptoms in healthy people.
However, it can cause other problems for pregnant women, resulting in severe damage to their babies' brains and livers, with symptoms that can include an enlarged liver, jaundice, hearing loss, progressive visual loss, convulsions and mental retardation.
In severe cases the virus can also be fatal.
The doctors say that while most infected babies will present as well and not exhibit any symptoms at birth, about 13 per cent or 240 of the 1800 infected each year will develop permanent problems.
If the condition is detected shortly after birth, babies can be given antiviral treatments within their first 30 days of life or hearing aids to improve their development thereafter.
The doctors say that although newborns are given routine hearing tests in most states, those found to have problems are not screened for CMV - an important gap that should be resolved.
''Neonatal hearing screening is cost-effective and allows for early intervention with hearing aids and education, which can result in functional language improvements,'' the doctors say.
''The cost-effectiveness of incorporating CMV screening into this algorithm urgently needs to be determined.''
A vaccine for CMV is being tested in the US and Europe and treatments for pregnant women are being investigated.