Bill Gates Once Released a Swarm of Mosquitoes on a Crowd While Delivering a Talk on Malaria

Bill Gates has a thing for mosquitoes and all his followers know it. However, one time he went too far to prove his point when he released a swarm of mosquitoes during his TED talk in 2009. The Microsoft co-founder was speaking about finding a cure for the disease - malaria and the outbreak through mosquitoes. As he released the lid and let the mosquitoes escape at the Technology, Entertainment, Design Conference — a gathering known to attract technology personalities he said, "Malaria is spread by mosquitoes. I brought some."

Before sharing that the mosquitoes he brought don't carry the disease he said, "Here I'll let them roam around. There’s no reason only poor people should have the experience." The billionaire argued that more money was spent on bringing a solution to baldness in men than finding a cure for the vector-borne disease. According to CNBC, Gates said that "rich men are afflicted" more by baldness than the poor dying of something that doesn't directly affect them. Striking a chord with the audience he joked, "Baldness is a terrible thing." However, the tech mogul's gimmick helped draw attention to the graveness of the disease widely afflicted in tropical regions with hot and humid climates across the globe.

Fox News reported back then how the incident was first reported on X (formerly known as Twitter) by Facebook's Senior Platform Manager Dave Morin. He blogged, "Bill Gates just released mosquitos into the audience at TED." When Gates was done with his presentation, TED curator and host Chris Anderson quipped that the Microsoft co-founder would now be known for releasing "more bugs" into the world as per Wired. According to Fox News, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provided $168.7 million to the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative in their quest to fight the deadly disease. A year down the line, Gates performed similar theatrics with fireflies as he recalled the warm reaction of his listeners then. During the presentation in 2010, the future of the world’s energy was addressed by the business tycoon. As he lifted the lid off the can of fireflies towards the end of his presentation the audience gave him a standing ovation for the statement made with his comical timing. Gates' unique attention-grabbing actions onstage made him well-known for unexpected transpiration on the stage. 

In a blog post, the philanthropist noted how his foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates made progress to fight malaria. He said, "The malaria death rate in sub-Saharan Africa has declined by a stunning 57 percent since 2000," as he cited The New England Journal of Medicine. The techie added, "With almost 500,000 children still dying of malaria every year, we obviously have a long way to go. But cutting the death rate by more than half is a miracle. It’s one of the greatest success stories in the history of global health."