WASHINGTON — More than a quarter of U.S. girls and women ages 14 to 59 are infected with the sexually transmitted human wart virus, which causes most cases of cervical cancer, U.S. health officials estimated on Tuesday. That means human papillomavirus or HPV infection is more common than previously thought, particularly among younger age groups, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers said. Its prevalence was highest among those 20 to 24, with 44.8 percent infected, and nearly a quarter of teenagers aged 14 to 19. This first solid assessment of the U.S. female prevalence of HPV infection comes about nine months after the Food and Drug Administration approved a vaccine against certain types of the virus to prevent cervical cancer. Using data from a nationally representative group of 1,921 girls and women ages 14 to 49 who provided vaginal swabs in 2003 and 2004, researchers led by the CDC’s Dr. Eileen Dunne found that 26.8 percent were infected with any type of this virus. That rate translates to a total of 24.9 million U.S. girls and women, according to Dunne’s team, whose findings were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. […]