That Moment Bill Gates Is More Scared Of Mosquitoes Than Sharks And Why You Should Too

If I were to ask you what creatures you fear the most, I am sure the last thing you’d mention is a mosquito, because why fear tiny insects that can easily die with a slap of the hand or insecticide?

… But Bill Gates the Great voiced out his thoughts on this particular subject in a recent blog post that went up on his GatesNotes. According to him, he would rather cuddle with a shark than kiss a bug — precisely the mosquitoes.

Before you roll your eyes, you might want to understand his point of view. In his words:

“Pound for pound, a shark isn’t that scary compared with many smaller creatures,”

“The mosquito has the equivalent of a hypodermic needle, and by going directly into your blood, they bypass the normal disease defense mechanisms, So any viruses that evolve to attack humans get in there very, very quickly.”

According to the image he posted, that displayed the number of people killed by different animals in 2015, the shark accounted for six worldwide deaths, while 830,000 people died from a mosquito bite.

Image Source: GatesNotes

Which is one of the reasons Malaria has long been a top priority of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,

“I think it’s one of the most stunning things to say that this little mosquito, it’s a small insect that you can, you know, kill with a slap of your hand, it actually kills more humans than any other thing.”

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