Warts

You will get warts from handling frogs or toads

No one likes warts, and frogs and toads aren’t very popular either, so it’s no wonder they are linked. Moreover, many toads and frogs have bumps and such on their bodies that look like warts. These protrusions often seem to ooze disgusting liquid as well, lending credence to the idea that they must be infectious in some way. The next conclusion is that they could give you those bumps or warts.

One part of this is true. Warts are contagious. Warts are actually caused by an infection, by viruses in fact. One virus in specific, human papillomavirus (HPV), is responsible for warts. There are many types of HPV and it is such a common virus that three quarters of people will get a wart at some time.

In fact, one strain of human papillomavirus even causes genital warts. This virus has been in the news more in the last few years because it is linked to cervical cancer in women. There is now a vaccine for the human papillomavirus that causes genital warts in order to try to prevent cervical cancer in women. We assume, and hope, that no one thinks they caught those kinds of warts from a frog or toad.

Warts of any kind are not easy to get rid of. Because they are caused by a virus, it’s actually possible for them to spread or reinfect you. Treatment with salicylic acid tries to burn off the warts chemically. This treatment can take weeks and sometimes hurts. Some doctors will freeze warts with liquid nitrogen, but that’s not painless either. Newer therapies involve the use of blister beetle extract or lasers. None of these is fun, and they don’t always work right away.

Regardless, the truth is you can’t catch any type of warts from an amphibian and that is for the simple reason that there is no human papillomavirus on them. Those bumps and protrusions that look like warts are actually defense mechanisms for the frogs or toads. That stuff the frogs and toads ooze is often poison, and it’s so nasty that animals have been known to spit the frogs or toads out almost immediately after putting them in their mouths.

So yes, frogs and toads are yucky. Yes, they look like they have warts on their skin. And yes, you can “catch” warts in the sense that they are caused by a viral infection. But you can’t get warts from a toad or frog. That’s a myth.