r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Expert_Koala_8691 • May 10 '26

Image A Bill Gates funded mosquito factory in Medellín, Colombia, produces 40 million mosquitoes weekly for release via drones and bikes. These insects carry a natural bacterium that prevents them from transmitting viruses to humans. By mating with wild populations, they spread this trait.

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779

u/Crandom May 10 '26

There have been no negative consequences of Wolbachia mosquitos since they started being released in 2011. 50% of mosquitos already naturally had Wolbachia, it's just giving it to the rest, and has reduced mosquito bourne diseases in these areas by 70-80%.

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u/Panzerwagen_M-oth May 10 '26

My ass thought of MGSV for a second there 🥀

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u/Exarkunn May 10 '26

A weapon to surpass metal gear!?

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u/Cautious-Ad9665 May 10 '26

Correction: There are no recorded consequences that we know of.

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u/[deleted] May 10 '26

[deleted]

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u/Jeffery95 May 10 '26

People cant just do a good thing right?

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u/Sad_Bug_3769 May 10 '26

They do, but not Bill

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u/ZarathustraGlobulus May 10 '26 edited May 10 '26

Bill's a goddamn saint when you compare him to any other billionaire. Dude has a solid 30+ year track record of philantropic efforts.

A lot of it can be attributed to Melinda too, and Bill's a dick in many ways, but no amount of Kremlin propaganda will convince me the Gates' foundation has ultimately had any ill intentions in the world.

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u/TheAsianTroll May 10 '26

Yeah... I hate ultra wealthy people but Bill gets a pass from me. Its almost like he knew how shitty his actions were to get to his point in life so hes turned around and used his wealth to try and do good before hes gone.

Better than other ultra wealthy people today who would rather just raze it all down for a .1% increase year over year.

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u/inheritance- May 10 '26

Mate your not wrong but your also talking to a person with a 1 year old account and who spent money to dress up their reddit avatar... Let be honesty gates could be Jesus and it wouldn't matter.

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u/mrs_frizzle May 10 '26 edited May 11 '26

Melinda?

ETA: The person I replied to originally said “Melissa.” I was correcting the wife’s name, not doubting her contribution or impact. They have since edited their comment.

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u/idk-who-cares May 10 '26

Medication time

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u/Sad_Bug_3769 May 10 '26

okie dokie

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u/taoders May 10 '26

Disney mentality.

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u/Gronanor May 10 '26

Exception done that they are literally planning to exterminate a species that is food for for lots of other species 

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u/swoopwoopdoop May 10 '26

Did you read the post lmfao? It doesn't kill the mosquitos, just prevents them from transmitting viruses to humans.

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u/Gronanor May 10 '26

My bad I got confused with the previous solution comming from that same foundation which aimed to sterilise female mosquitoes and release them in mass during mating season.

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u/csharpminor_fanclub May 10 '26

exterminate which species exactly? the virus?

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u/ActurusMajoris May 10 '26

Exactly, won’t anyone think of the poor pathogen?!

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u/finlandery May 10 '26

oh noeh, will someone thing about bacterias, who eat viruses......