Yes it’s a tricky subject but the consensus among clinicians and epidemiologists is that HPV is not an STI and shouldn’t be treated as such, but it doesn’t stop people deliberately confusing it for their own ends which is unfortunate.

Skin to skin contact, including oral sex can transfer HPV virus. In some cultures/counties the definition of a virgin means no vaginal/penile penetrative sex, therefore it’s important in the context of cervical cancer not to equate absence of the above with zero risk of cervical cancer.

For example in Turkey when the Erdogan government rolled out HPV primary testing for cervical cancer screening (in 2014) the message got hijacked by right wing religious parties saying the infection was only sexually transmitted (mainly in the SE Turkey region), and that an HPV positive result meant the person had an STI. Result was uptake was low and cervical pre-cancers were missed as women were scared and men scared of being stigmatised or accused as a result.

You might in theory get an indication of the age of someone through telomeric length if you compared a sample from birth with the current sample. But I have read that telomeric length in individuals varies and rate of shortening varies it’s unlikely to be that accurate.

HPV can be transmitted via any skin to skin contact, so it’s not correct to assume high risk strain HPV related cancers are all related to sexual contact, however most are.

How long after the procedure will the scarring/redness etc be visible?