Bill Gates releases mosquitoes into audience

"Bill Gates just released mosquitos into the audience at TED and said, 'Not only poor people should experience this.'"

That was the post by Facebook's Senior Platform Manager Dave Morin on social networking site Twitter.

The event took place at the TED2009 (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conference on Wednesday in Long Beach, Calif., where the Microsoft chairman was delivering a presentation about malaria education and eradication. Malaria is transmitted from person to person via mosquito bites.

The mosquito incident was confirmed by the media office of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which also noted that the insects released were not carrying malaria.

(Msnbc.com is a joint venture between Microsoft and NBC Universal.)

Fact file All about malaria Lean about this serious, sometimes fatal disease. msnbc.com

The philanthropist has been pushing to reduce malaria deaths through the nonprofit. In September, Gates announced that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would provide $168.7 million to the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative to help develop a vaccine for the deadly disease.

Malaria is an infectious disease caused by parasites in the red blood cells. Each year, 350 million to 500 million are infected, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and more than one million cases result in death. Symptoms include high fever, nausea, chills, sweating and weakness.

The disease is still prevalent on continents such as Africa and Asia, which have tropical or subtropical climates. Malaria has been eradicated in most countries with temperate climates. There is currently no effective vaccine against malaria.

More on malaria | infectious diseases

Also in msnbc.com Health 6 celebrity fad diets you won't believe Body Odd: Phantom smells may mean trouble Seeking H1N1 booster shot? Good luck Exotic juice claims: Pure pulp fiction?   Animal Tracks: Eye candy for animal lovers

MORE FROM INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Infectious diseases Section Front

Childhood vaccine cost to drop next year Biggest child-killers: pneumonia and diarrhea Shots on horizon for Alzheimer's, AIDS, herpes 9 surprising places where germs lurk Antibiotic overuse could threaten medicine Dutch pull Pfizer vaccine batch after infants die New vaccine offers hope in malaria battle Millions die because of high malaria drug prices Experts: U.S. should take lead to halt outbreaks Plague death: Researcher dies from infection Infectious diseases Section Front   Add Infectious diseases headlines to your news reader: