Bill Gates thinks a coming disease could kill 30 million people …€¦ · Bill Gates thinks a...

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Las Vegas has a new $30 million vertical farm that produces over a million pounds of produce every year — take a look Aria Bendix 17h Bayer's Monsanto is being sued by 8,000 plaintis for not disclosing alleged cancer risks Ludwig Burger, Reuters 45m A scientist who studies aging reveals how restricting calories might oer protection against age- related diseases Charlotte Hu 1h The tastiest, most surprising foods you can eat on the keto diet Hilary Brueck 1h Scientists have discovered brain dierences that may explain why certain people procrastinate so much Peter Kotecki 2h These mysterious 'monster sharks' can disappear into the ocean depths for months at a time — but scientists are starting to learn more about them Peter Dockrill, Science Alert 4h Photographers spotted a mysterious light burning across the sky at 3000 degrees Celsius – but scientists can't explain where it came from Peter Farquhar, Business Insider Australia 4h The psychedelic drug that's incredibly popular in Silicon Valley mirrors a near-death experience, and researchers are figuring out how it works Kevin Loria 5h A Category 4 hurricane is barreling towards Hawaii, bringing 145 miles-per-hour winds and a dangerous flash flooding risk Jeremy Berke 6h Nearly one trillion dollars of US real estate is threatened by rising seas, and the risk is already aecting home values Aria Bendix 6h Bill Gates thinks a coming disease could kill 30 million people within 6 months — and says we should prepare for it as we do for war Kevin Loria Apr. 27, 2018, 3:18 PM Jack Taylor/Getty Images) The next deadly disease that will cause a global pandemic is coming, Bill Gates said on Friday at a discussion of epidemics. We're not ready. An illness like the pandemic 1918 influenza could kill 30 million people within six months, Gates said, adding that the next disease might not even be a flu, but something we've never seen. The world should prepare as it does for war, Gates said. If there's one thing that we know from history, it's that a deadly new disease will arise and spread around the globe. That could happen easily within the next decade. And as Bill Gates told listeners on Friday at a discussion about epidemics hosted by the Massachusetts Medical Society and the New England Journal of Medicine, we're not ready. Gates acknowledged that he's usually the optimist in the room, reminding people that we're lifting children out of poverty around the globe and getting better at eliminating diseases like polio and malaria. But "there's one area though where the world isn't making much progress," Gates said, "and that's pandemic preparedness." The likelihood that such a disease will appear continues to rise. New pathogens emerge all the time as the world population increases and humanity encroaches on wild environments. It's becoming easier and easier for individual people or small groups to create weaponized diseases that could spread like wildfire around the globe. According to Gates, a small non-state actor could build an even deadlier form of smallpox in a lab. And in our interconnected world, people are always hopping on planes, crossing from cities on one continent to those on another in a matter of hours. Gates presented a simulation by the Institute for Disease Modeling that found that a new flu like the one that killed 50 million people in the 1918 pandemic would now most likely kill 30 million people within six months. And the disease that next takes us by surprise is likely to be one we see for the first time at the start of an outbreak, like what happened recently with SARS and MERS viruses. If you were to tell the world's governments that weapons that could kill 30 million people were under construction right now, there'd be a sense of urgency about preparing for the threat, Gates said. "In the case of biological threats, that sense of urgency is lacking," he said. "The world needs to prepare for pandemics in the same serious way it prepares for war." John Moore/Getty Stopping the next pandemic The one time the military tried a sort of simulated war game against a smallpox pandemic, the final score was "smallpox one, humanity zero," Gates said. But he reiterated that he's an optimist, saying he thinks we could better prepare for the next viral or bacterial threat. In some ways, we're better prepared now than we were for previous pandemics. We have antiviral drugs that can in many cases do at least something to improve survival rates. We have antibiotics that can treat secondary infections like pneumonia associated with the flu. We're also getting closer to a universal flu vaccine; Gates announced on Friday that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would oer $12 million in grants to encourage its development. And we're getting better at rapid diagnosis too — which is essential, as the first step toward fighting a new disease is quarantine. Just this week, a new research paper in the journal Science touted the development of a way to use the gene-editing technology Crispr to rapidly detect diseases and identify them using the same sort of paper strip used in a home pregnancy test. But we're not yet good enough at rapidly identifying the threat from a disease and coordinating a response, as the global reaction to the latest Ebola epidemic showed. There needs to be better communication between militaries and governments to help coordinate responses, Gates said. And he thinks governments need ways to quickly enlist the help of the private sector when it comes to developing technology and tools to fight an emerging deadly disease. Melinda Gates recently said that the threat of a global pandemic, whether it emerges naturally or is engineered, was perhaps the biggest risk to humanity. "Think of the number of people who leave New York City every day and go all over the world — we're an interconnected world," she said. Those connections make us all vulnerable. SEE ALSO: Bill and Melinda Gates think a weaponized disease may be the biggest threat to humanity — here's how worried you should be » NOW WATCH: Why bathroom sensors suck More: Health Bill Gates Pandemic Disease ! FROM THE WEB FROM THE WEB by Taboola Sponsored Links Mortgage Quotes Arizona: Gov’t Will Pay $355/Month Arizona: Gov’t Will Pay $355/Month O Your Mortgage If You Have No O Your Mortgage If You Have No Missed Payments Missed Payments EnergyBillCruncher Solar Quotes Phoenix, Arizona Approves No Cost Phoenix, Arizona Approves No Cost Solar Program Solar Program Popdust for HelloFresh We Tried HelloFresh: Here's What We Tried HelloFresh: Here's What Happened Happened GundryMD Cardiologist:" I Beg Everyone To Cardiologist:" I Beg Everyone To Quit 3 Foods" Quit 3 Foods" MORE FROM BUSINESS INSIDER " # $ % & * Copyright © 2018 Insider Inc. All rights reserved. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service , Privacy Policy and Cookies Policy . Sitemap Disclaimer Commerce Policy Coupons Made in NYC Stock quotes by finanzen.net International Editions: UK DE AUS FR IN IT JP MY NL SE PL SG ZA ES ' (

Transcript of Bill Gates thinks a coming disease could kill 30 million people …€¦ · Bill Gates thinks a...

Page 1: Bill Gates thinks a coming disease could kill 30 million people …€¦ · Bill Gates thinks a coming disease could kill 30 million people within 6 months — and says we should

Las Vegas has a new $30million vertical farm thatproduces over a millionpounds of produce everyyear — take a lookAria Bendix 17h

Bayer's Monsanto is beingsued by 8,000 plaintiffs fornot disclosing alleged cancerrisksLudwig Burger, Reuters 45m

A scientist who studies agingreveals how restrictingcalories might offerprotection against age-related diseasesCharlotte Hu 1h

The tastiest, most surprisingfoods you can eat on the ketodietHilary Brueck 1h

Scientists have discoveredbrain differences that mayexplain why certain peopleprocrastinate so muchPeter Kotecki 2h

These mysterious 'monstersharks' can disappear intothe ocean depths for monthsat a time — but scientists arestarting to learn more aboutthemPeter Dockrill, Science Alert 4h

Photographers spotted amysterious light burningacross the sky at 3000degrees Celsius – butscientists can't explainwhere it came fromPeter Farquhar,Business Insider Australia 4h

The psychedelic drug that'sincredibly popular in SiliconValley mirrors a near-deathexperience, and researchersare figuring out how it worksKevin Loria 5h

A Category 4 hurricane isbarreling towards Hawaii,bringing 145 miles-per-hourwinds and a dangerous flashflooding riskJeremy Berke 6h

Nearly one trillion dollars ofUS real estate is threatenedby rising seas, and the risk isalready affecting homevaluesAria Bendix 6h

Bill Gates thinks a comingdisease could kill 30 millionpeople within 6 months — andsays we should prepare for it aswe do for war

Kevin Loria Apr. 27, 2018, 3:18 PM

Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

The next deadly disease that will

cause a global pandemic is

coming, Bill Gates said on Friday

at a discussion of epidemics.

We're not ready.

An illness like the pandemic 1918

influenza could kill 30 million

people within six months, Gates

said, adding that the next disease

might not even be a flu, but

something we've never seen.

The world should prepare as it

does for war, Gates said.

If there's one thing that we know from

history, it's that a deadly new disease

will arise and spread around the globe.

That could happen easily within the next

decade. And as Bill Gates told listeners

on Friday at a discussion about

epidemics hosted by the Massachusetts

Medical Society and the New England

Journal of Medicine, we're not ready.

Gates acknowledged that he's usually

the optimist in the room, reminding

people that we're lifting children out of

poverty around the globe and getting

better at eliminating diseases like polio

and malaria.

But "there's one area though where the

world isn't making much progress,"

Gates said, "and that's pandemic

preparedness."

The likelihood that such a disease will

appear continues to rise. New pathogens

emerge all the time as the world

population increases and humanity

encroaches on wild environments. It's

becoming easier and easier for

individual people or small groups to

create weaponized diseases that could

spread like wildfire around the globe.

According to Gates, a small non-state

actor could build an even deadlier form

of smallpox in a lab.

And in our interconnected world, people

are always hopping on planes, crossing

from cities on one continent to those on

another in a matter of hours.

Gates presented a simulation by the

Institute for Disease Modeling that

found that a new flu like the one that

killed 50 million people in the 1918

pandemic would now most likely kill 30

million people within six months.

And the disease that next takes us by

surprise is likely to be one we see for the

first time at the start of an outbreak, like

what happened recently with SARS and

MERS viruses.

If you were to tell the world's

governments that weapons that could

kill 30 million people were under

construction right now, there'd be a

sense of urgency about preparing for the

threat, Gates said.

"In the case of biological threats, that

sense of urgency is lacking," he said.

"The world needs to prepare for

pandemics in the same serious way it

prepares for war."

John Moore/Getty

Stopping the next pandemic

The one time the military tried a sort of

simulated war game against a smallpox

pandemic, the final score was "smallpox

one, humanity zero," Gates said.

But he reiterated that he's an optimist,

saying he thinks we could better prepare

for the next viral or bacterial threat.

In some ways, we're better prepared now

than we were for previous pandemics.

We have antiviral drugs that can in many

cases do at least something to improve

survival rates. We have antibiotics that

can treat secondary infections like

pneumonia associated with the flu.

We're also getting closer to a universal

flu vaccine; Gates announced on Friday

that the Bill and Melinda Gates

Foundation would offer $12 million in

grants to encourage its development.

And we're getting better at rapid

diagnosis too — which is essential, as the

first step toward fighting a new disease is

quarantine. Just this week, a new

research paper in the journal Science

touted the development of a way to use

the gene-editing technology Crispr to

rapidly detect diseases and identify

them using the same sort of paper strip

used in a home pregnancy test.

But we're not yet good enough at rapidly

identifying the threat from a disease and

coordinating a response, as the global

reaction to the latest Ebola epidemic

showed.

There needs to be better communication

between militaries and governments to

help coordinate responses, Gates said.

And he thinks governments need ways

to quickly enlist the help of the private

sector when it comes to developing

technology and tools to fight an

emerging deadly disease.

Melinda Gates recently said that the

threat of a global pandemic, whether it

emerges naturally or is engineered, was

perhaps the biggest risk to humanity.

"Think of the number of people who

leave New York City every day and go all

over the world — we're an

interconnected world," she said.

Those connections make us all

vulnerable.

SEE ALSO: Bill and Melinda Gatesthink a weaponized disease may bethe biggest threat to humanity —here's how worried you should be »

NOW WATCH: Why bathroomsensors suck

More: Health Bill Gates Pandemic Disease !

F R O M T H E W E BF R O M T H E W E B

by Taboola Sponsored Links

Mortgage Quotes

Arizona: Gov’t Will Pay $355/MonthArizona: Gov’t Will Pay $355/MonthOff Your Mortgage If You Have NoOff Your Mortgage If You Have NoMissed PaymentsMissed Payments

EnergyBillCruncher Solar Quotes

Phoenix, Arizona Approves No CostPhoenix, Arizona Approves No CostSolar ProgramSolar Program

Popdust for HelloFresh

We Tried HelloFresh: Here's WhatWe Tried HelloFresh: Here's WhatHappenedHappened

GundryMD

Cardiologist:" I Beg Everyone ToCardiologist:" I Beg Everyone ToQuit 3 Foods"Quit 3 Foods"

MORE FROM BUSINESS INSIDER

" # $ % &

* Copyright © 2018 Insider Inc. All rights reserved. Registration

on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our

Terms of Service, Privacy Policy and Cookies Policy.

Sitemap Disclaimer Commerce Policy Coupons

Made in NYC Stock quotes by finanzen.net

International Editions:

UK DE AUS FR IN IT JP MY NL SE PL SG ZA

ES

' (

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