Take a look around your workplace or classroom. If there are more than six people in a room, chances are one of them has a cell phone covered in fecal matter.
Researchers in London studied hundreds of cell phone swabs, and found 16 percent were contaminated with E. Coli bacteria, which comes from feces.
The reason? Maybe it's because some people don't wash their hands after using the bathroom, said researchers.
Past studies have found that the same bacteria has also been discovered on shopping cart handles and door knobs.
Hygiene researchers hope the findings will change some people's behavior.
"I hope the thought of having E. coli on their hands and phones encourages them to take more care in the bathroom - washing your hands with soap is such a simple thing to do but there is no doubt it saves lives." said Dr. Val Curtis from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Even if your cell phone doesn't have E. Coli, the study found that most cell phones have some kind of bacterial contamination on them.
So how can you avoid nasty phones? Just wash your hands.
Hand hygiene expert Allison Aiello of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor suggests people wash their hands for a full 20 seconds then dry them completely to get rid of microbes on your hands.
