# Handling things to be sold when have wart on hand - wear gloves? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 15, 2009, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handling-things-to-be-sold-when-have-wart-on-hand-wear-gloves/513957 "2009-10-15T22:17:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![supergoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@supergoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supergoose)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handling-things-to-be-sold-when-have-wart-on-hand-wear-gloves/513957/1 "2009-10-15T22:17:45Z")
Title pretty much covers it. I have two warts (that are currently being battled with frozen something-or-other by a dermatologist, if that changes anything) on my hand. Should I wear gloves when handling items I intend to sell or knitting items to sell? The knit items are toys, by the way, so kids would probably come in contact with them. Kind of a trivial question, but I don’t want to infect anyone with a virus that might cause them serious health problems (and maybe a wart or two). (This is strange, but I’m actually pretty embarrassed about this. Warts are so ugly. Even the word is ugly.) Anyway, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handling-things-to-be-sold-when-have-wart-on-hand-wear-gloves/513957/2 "2009-10-15T22:43:02Z")
Yes please. IANAD, but the “ick” factor alone, I’d appreciate it if you wore gloves. ---
**Author:** ![supergoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@supergoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supergoose)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handling-things-to-be-sold-when-have-wart-on-hand-wear-gloves/513957/3 "2009-10-16T01:15:32Z")
Ok, will do! Damn. Not looking forward to knitting with rubber gloves on. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handling-things-to-be-sold-when-have-wart-on-hand-wear-gloves/513957/4 "2009-10-16T01:30:51Z")
If you feel a need to cover the wart but don’t want to wear gloves, how about a Band-Aid (or its generic equivalent)? ---
**Author:** ![supergoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@supergoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supergoose)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handling-things-to-be-sold-when-have-wart-on-hand-wear-gloves/513957/5 "2009-10-16T02:20:48Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > If you feel a need to cover the wart but don’t want to wear gloves, how about a Band-Aid (or its generic equivalent)? :smack: I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. (It’s just the warts themselves that are contagious, right?) ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handling-things-to-be-sold-when-have-wart-on-hand-wear-gloves/513957/6 "2009-10-16T13:21:13Z")
Probably neither here nor there, but my insurance company (Blue Cross) apparently doesn’t think so. It pissed me off that they denied coverage as “elective” for removing a wart from my teenaged daughter’s hand. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handling-things-to-be-sold-when-have-wart-on-hand-wear-gloves/513957/7 "2009-10-16T13:53:37Z")
I can’t imagine being in the OP’s position and caring about a wart one way or the other. I can’t imagine being a buyer of the OP’s work and caring one way or the other. Warts are small, almost invisble bumps which don’t ooze. Compared to the amount of dead skin, loose hairs, & body oil you leave on any handicraft you make, cooties from warts are negligible in a practical sense. And \*should \*be negligible in an emotional sense, at least if the “ick” emotion has any basis in reality. ---
**Author:** ![supergoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@supergoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supergoose)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handling-things-to-be-sold-when-have-wart-on-hand-wear-gloves/513957/8 "2009-10-16T18:03:34Z")
They might not ooze, but they are contagious, no? My ignorance is in how contagious and if that’s really a medical problem for other people (immune system compromised, or young children). ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handling-things-to-be-sold-when-have-wart-on-hand-wear-gloves/513957/9 "2009-10-17T04:41:37Z")
I don’t know whether you can spread warts by handling items, but why don’t you ask your dermatologist? Pretty sure they’d have told you to take precautions if it was contagious, but it can’t hurt to ask, right? ---
**Author:** ![supergoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@supergoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supergoose)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2009, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handling-things-to-be-sold-when-have-wart-on-hand-wear-gloves/513957/10 "2009-10-19T23:26:08Z")
> [@Apocalypso](#): > > I don’t know whether you can spread warts by handling items, but why don’t you ask your dermatologist? Pretty sure they’d have told you to take precautions if it was contagious, but it can’t hurt to ask, right? Absolutely right, and an excellent suggestion. I really wish I’d thought of that last week, while I was there. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handling-things-to-be-sold-when-have-wart-on-hand-wear-gloves/513957/11 "2009-10-20T05:38:17Z")
Just going by the entry in WebMD, it appears that children are especially susceptible to warts since their immune systems aren’t quite up to snuff yet. Also, the article claims that the wart virus is fairly hardy, i.e. it can survive on the monkeybars after a kid with warts touches them and pass it on to another kid. That being said, I wonder how long the virus could really live on yarn. At any rate, you should probably cover the wart for your own sake, to avoid giving it back to yourself in another location.