system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Why does the immune system take so long (years) to defeat the HPV virus?

I have a limited understanding of medicine. It seems to me however that the immune system is typically able to deal with viral infections within a few weeks to months depending on type and severity. However HPV virus  sometime takes years to defeat.
gpt
So couple things 

1. HPV can clear it a couple week. A couple months. A couple years. Or never. 

Think of you immune system not as battling it the entire time. But rather trying to make an antibody of a specific size and shape and function to kill it. It randomly keeps trying till one works. 

A gross oversimplification of the immune system. But conceptually works.