A study by Assaf HaRofeh Hospital this month found that mezuzot in hospitals may carry on their covers germs from patients and their visitors, including various bacteria that cause intestinal and gastric infections. The actual mezuzah itself, a scroll containing Biblical passages and prayers, is never touched; it is rolled tightly and covered with a special wrapper within the decorative container seen on the doorposts.

Researchers arrived at the findings after examining 70 mezuzot covers from various parts of Assaf HaRofeh Hospital. They recommended that healthy visitors to patients in the hospital also consider the information before kissing their fingers after touching the mezuzot on the doorposts in the medical wards, in the traditional manner of observant Jews.