Hem Adrani, age 8, of Kingston, Ont., Canada, for her question:

DO TOADS GIVE YOU WARTS?

Rumor has it that toads cause warts. Trouble is, some children get warts who have never set eyes on a toad. Actually, warts are caused by certain virus germs that burrow under the outer layer of the skin. The virus thrives and multiplies, causing a wad of tough, dead skin cells to form. Sometimes a wart will disappear of its own accord. Other times it remains as a pesky nuisance, occasionally spreading to other parts of the body and even to other people.

Doctors regard a wart as a benign growth called a verruca. The skin, as we know, is a series of layers.  The verruca virus never digs down to the deep, sensitive skin layer. It stays in the tough surface where it orders the cells to build folds of corny material and stack them in a hard button. When the virus dies, the warty wad of folded skin dries up and falls away  leaving the skin as it was before. If a wart keeps growing or becomes irritated and inflamed, have a doctor take a look at it. He may apply stronger remedies than the drugstore variety, such as X rays, electric needle or liquid nitrogen  all relatively painless and permanent.