Bill Gates Raises Alarm Over This Menace: 'Kills More People In One Day Than Sharks Kill In 100 Years'

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, whose Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to improve healthcare and alleviate poverty in developing and under-developed countries, brought to attention a deadly natural menace that often goes unnoticed by many people.

What Happened: Back in July 2022, the billionaire took to Twitter to emphasize the havoc caused by mosquitoes, which are the primary carriers of viral infection. Gates shared a video snippet from a "Shark Week" show, showing a shark holding on to its prey like a fighter jet even as it completely inverts.

Tagging Discovery, the tech entrepreneur, said sharks are cool, but mosquitoes are deadly.

“Did you know mosquitoes kill more people in one day than sharks kill in 100 years?” he added.

Mosquitoes are vectors that carry viruses that cause dengue, malaria, Zika, chikungunya, lymphatic filariasis, and Japanese encephalitis, among others. 

Gates later tweeted about new cases of polio emerging from Malawi to the U.S., saying poliovirus remains a threat until it is eradicated. The poliovirus is transmitted not through mosquitoes, but via contaminated water or food or contact with an infected person.

This article was originally published on July 25, 2022.

Photo: Courtesy of Shutterstock.