Cell phones cannot get infected with computer viruses, but your favorite phone may become a thriving environment for bacteria and viruses.

According to researchers, cell phones are major carriers of infection in hospitals. That is why in so many hospitals you are kindly asked to sterilize your gadget with a special wet cleaning tissue before you enter the premises.

And it is not surprising at all. We constantly bring our phone into contact with our hands without thinking about how clean they are. We keep using our phones even when we are ill. And your pockets and the warmth of your body are an excellent environment that promotes the growth of microorganisms.

Researchers at Ondokuz Mayis University, Turkey, tested 200 cell phones belonging to the university stuff and random people from the streets who agreed to take part in the experiment. As a result, the scientists got discouraging figures: staggering 100 percent of phones were tainted with harmful bacteria ‘from top to toe’.

A Bluetooth headset can be used to reduce the number of contacts with your phone. Anyway, make sure you clean your phone’s surface the way you do it with your computer keyboard.

Source of the image: flickr.com/photos/articnomad.