# Another cervical cancer/HPV question, or Am I a freak of nature?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-cervical-cancer-hpv-question-or-am-i-a-freak-of-nature/177345>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 25, 2003, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-cervical-cancer-hpv-question-or-am-i-a-freak-of-nature/177345 "2003-05-25T03:36:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-cervical-cancer-hpv-question-or-am-i-a-freak-of-nature/177345/21 "2003-05-28T22:05:04Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Eva Luna \*  
> \*\*Update: I posted the same inquiry on a nother board, and someone mentioned she’d found out from her own experience that HPV can go dormant enough not to show up on a Pap.
> 
> Is this true? And if so, can it still be detected with some other type of test (a blood test, maybe)? \*\*

Yes, it can go dormant and it can resolve and it’s sometimes hard to find (the tests aren’t that great). There’s a lot we don’t know about HPV, too. We do know that we can’t “cure” the virus, so you should continue to screen for cancer and not worry about whether they are finding HPV anymore. If there were a blood test, I think it would just be for antibodies, which wouldn’t tell you anything about whether it is active or not.

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