FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Tech

Bill Gates Is Worried About a Widespread Flu Epidemic

Oh good, another thing to stress out about.

Bills, paying rent, and what we're eating for dinner are the things that freak us out. But to Bill Gates, he's worried about more major things, like a widespread epidemic that wipes out scores of people.

In a harrowing interview with Vox, the magnate was asked what he envisions what the next "nightmare scenario" that humans will have to deal with. Turns out, it's a bad one! He predicts that the likelihood of an extensive illness sickening millions of people in his lifetime is "well over 50 percent."

Referring to the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak that killed as many as 40 million people, Gates says a similar scenario could happen today even though our medical treatments have greatly improved.

As one does, he funded a disease modeling group to forecast how bad a modern day outbreak would be. What's hurting us this time compared to one hundred years ago is that it's easier to travel around the world, thus making a contagious disease easier to spread.

"Within 60 days, it's basically in all urban centers around the entire globe," he said of his models. "That didn't happen with the Spanish flu."