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Why is it untrue that touching a toad causes warts?
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frog and toad
The natterjack toad (Bufo calamita) lives in northern Europe.
The belief that touching a toad causes warts is a common misconception and is entirely untrue.12
Warts are actually caused by a virus, most commonly from the human papillomavirus (HPV) family, which leads to an infectious, benign growth on the skin. While toads possess skin that is dry, rough, and covered in bumps that may look like warts, these features are simply natural characteristics of the animal and cannot transmit a human skin condition.312
Although toads do have poison-secreting glands on their backs and within these bumps, these secretions are intended to irritate the mucous membranes or eyes of predators, not to cause skin growths in humans.1