International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

Women could be put at increased risk of cervical cancer because their male partners are unwilling to help cut the dangers, according to a new study.

Researchers from the University of Florida have found that informing men a vaccine to prevent the human papillomavirus (HPV) would also protect their female partners from cervical cancer would not increase their interest in being vaccinated.

A HPV vaccine is believed to be approved for males in the near future, with experts believing both males and females should be vaccinated to reduce the risk of the sexually transmitted infection, which around 20 million people are infected with in the US each year.

In the tests, men expressed only "moderate interest" in the vaccine, even when they were given the "partner-protection" message.

Mary Gerend, from the university's college of medicine, said: "Thinking about the benefit to their own health - protection again rare genital cancers and genital warts - is all men really need to know; telling them all that extra stuff really isn't going to push them one way or another."

Recent research in Colombia found that women between the ages of 24 and 45 could benefit from the HPV virus in the same way as younger females.