The son of one of the authors came home from school with a letter explaining that prior to swimming each term, children would have their feet checked for verrucas. School policy stated that if a verruca was discovered a protective sock must be worn.

Many public swimming pools have no restrictions on children swimming with verrucas, and in view of conflicting policies we wondered whether verrucas were transmitted during swimming and if wearing verruca socks was a necessary intervention.