WWW- Viruses are being spread by cellphone, and the most dangerous strain has started infecting America. A version of Cabir – a worm that can destroy files, automatically ring up pricey 900 numbers and drain batteries – was discovered in two Nokia phones on display inside a Santa Monica, Calif., cellphone store last week.

Cabir, which has already sabotaged so-called “smart phones” in up to a dozen countries, uses Bluetooth wireless technology to spread from phone to phone.

Mikko Hypponen, who works at the Finnish anti-virus company that discovered the first “in the wild” version of the virus in America, offered users some relief. “This is not going to be the end of the world; the common Cabir variants have been proved to be very slow in spreading,” he said.

Security experts are predicting that with telephone technology improving so rapidly, virus scares once confined to cyberspace will soon expand to the cellphone world.

Someone using Bluetooth could have walked past the display models in Santa Monica and passed the bug on from his internal antenna, CNET.com reported.