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CHICAGO — One in four U.S. women age 14 to 59 is infected with the sexually transmitted virus that in some forms can cause cervical cancer, according to the first broad national estimate.

The figure is mostly in line with previous assessments. The highest prevalence - nearly 45 percent - was found in young women within the age range recommended for a new virus-fighting vaccine, according to a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Researchers have estimated 20 million Americans have some form of human papillomavirus. The study concluded 26.8 percent of U.S. women are infected, a figure comparable to earlier estimates using smaller groups.

"We expected the prevalence of any HPV infection would be high, and that's what we found," said CDC researcher Eileen Dunne, the study's lead author.

Just 3.4 percent of the women studied had infections of one of the four HPV strains that the new vaccine protects against. But that doesn't mean the vaccine should be written off, said Yvonne Collins, an assistant professor of gynecologic cancer at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

For one thing, Collins said, that relatively small percentage corresponds with a lot of women - about 3 million, according to the report. And it does not include those with past infections that have cleared up.

The number of women with HPV strains the vaccine targeted was lower than in some previous, less comprehensive estimates. However, the overall HPV prevalence among the youngest women studied, 14- to 24-year-olds, was substantially higher than in previous estimates, 7.5 million vs. 4.6 million.

Dunne attributed those variations to different study populations and different HPV detection methods. She said the results should not be interpreted to mean infection prevalence has changed in recent years.

The new nationally representative report is based on 1,921 women tested in 2003-04.

The report appears in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Dunne said HPV prevalence is thought to be high in men, as well, but none were studied.

An estimated 11,150 U.S. women will have a diagnosis of cervical cancer this year, and about 3,670 will die from it. Numbers are much higher worldwide, especially in developing countries where tests to detect cervical cancer are not routine.