I can relate to chronic tonsillitis. I had it so often as a child, they could never find a time to remove them (which was SOP in the 40's-50's). When I turned 55 they tried to kill me ;-) I have to be honest though, they were pretty much inert from my early teens on until I developed tonsil cancer. They were just developing the HPV test when I was Dx'd so I can't say for sure that my tonsil cancer was HPV induced. I believe it was, however, because of it's rapid response to treatment. Midway through radiation and chemo (week 3) they performed a CT scan and it had completely vanished. The techs were as astonished as I was. It was a 6cm tumor.

Like others have said the etiology of viruses is at the cutting edge of medicine right now. See:http://www.cdc.gov/std/HPV/stdFact-HPVandoralcancer.htm

Gary Allsebrook
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Dx 11/22/02, SCC, 6 x 3 cm Polypoid tumor, rt tonsil, Stage III/IVA, T3N0M0 G1/2
Tx 1/28/03 - 3/19/03, Cisplatin ct x2, IMRT, bilateral, with boost, x35(69.96Gy)
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"You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes" (James 4:14 NIV)