It may not have blown up until 2001, but there were plenty of stories floating around for decades.
Fun fact: Sinead O’Connor ripping up a picture of Pope John Paul II on SNL in 1992 was in response to Catholic priests abusing kids in Ireland and the Church covering it up.
Hippocrates (he of the Hippocratic Oath) used the word “herpes” (to creep or crawl) to describe the transmission of the disease we now know by that name. The Latin analog for the Greek herpes is “serpere”, the root of the word serpent. Those who study reptiles are called “herpetologists”.
Perhaps that’s how the frogs/warts connection came to be made…
He has pictures on the wall of his cave – same thing…