It means that a some point in the past you were for sure. Whether you are now is an unknown. There is no reliable means to test men at this point. Where would we collect the sample from? We don't know if it goes dormant, and if so where. You could do a blood test to look for a type specific antibody. But that is still a refection of the past. The odds are, from all previous studies, that you were type 16 positive. And as stated before this would be of unknown value to know, and other than 16 I do not know of any clinical work being done on the few other oncogenic versions in head and neck, because they are not major players.

Brian, stage 4 oral cancer survivor. OCF Founder and Director. The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.