can warts be spread by contact with other objects?

[Ally123]

hello, thankyou for this forum!

i have walked barefoot with a plantar wart, i read that warts can be spread by contact with objects they have touched and that the virus can live for several months at low temperatures without a host.

1) how true is this and what is the likelyhood that i will catch more warts (maybe on my face and hands as well) from touching things my feet have contacted, such as the floor or things which have touched the floor (eg my cats)?

2) is it true that genital warts can be caught from toilet seats?

3) if warts are not spread from contact, how are they spread, or does no one know?

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

1.  No.
2.  No!
3.  I see warts every day, as you can imagine, and it's almost never the case that someone in the vicinity has them.  So bascially, no one really knows.  But the good news is that you don't have to consider yourself contagious.

Take care.

Dr. Rockoff

[Trialanderror]

I wonder if the situation is different with plantar warts. I developed one at age 10 after frequenting the local swimming pool. The one turned into 3, then 5, then 10 or more within a few months and eventually I ended up in a hospital for a few days to remove this whole disaster off the sole of my feet. It was linked to the pool environment because some swimming buddies had a similar fate.