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I may or may not have a viral infection in the past and then I took vaccination for it. Would it possible for me to get tested for past viral infection?

For example HPV virus using IGG test.

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  • You need to name the virus.
    – Carey Gregory ♦
    Aug 13, 2018 at 17:39
  • I am talking about HPV virus.
    – Matt Dixie
    Aug 13, 2018 at 21:46

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There is currently no recommended screening test for HPV in men. The HPV vaccine is preventative for high risk strains of HPV - 16, 18, 31, 33 usually, but does not cure a present infection. Most HPV infections are naturally cleared from the body in 1-2 years, but can remain dormant for much longer. Infections are generally asymptomatic in males but can lead to cervical cancer in females.

So, to answer your question, if you had HPV before the vaccine you could still have it because the vaccine doesn't cure (just prevents), though it is a moot point because there are no common screening tests for men and, even if there was, your body could have cleared it by now.

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    Please add a resource, but otherwise a good answer. There is no clinical utility to testing for past HPV infection. Furthermore, unlike Hep B, where you can test for core antibody to see if there was past exposure to the virus itself even after vaccinating for it, HPV does not have such a test.
    – DoctorWhom
    Aug 20, 2018 at 7:00
  • @DoctorWhom Are the infection-yielding antibodies (virogenous? virogenic? There has to be a word for this) different from the vaccine-yielding (vaccigenous?) antibodies in a predictable enough way for past Hep B infections to be differentiated from vaccination?
    – TheEnvironmentalist
    Dec 13, 2019 at 9:30

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