It was Bill Gates' peculiar way to bring the attention of people to the victims of the deadly disease malaria, when he opened the jar full of mosquitoes on the stage at the Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) Conference in Long Beach, California, on Wednesday.

Letting go the notorious insects, known for spreading the deadly disease malaria, in the conference known for gathering technology kings, politicians, and Hollywood stars, the philanthropist turned, Gates said, "Malaria is spread by mosquitoes! I brought some. Here I'll let them roam around. There is no reason only poor people should be infected."

The people present at the conference were stupefied, but they felt lightened up when Gates assured them that the insects were malaria-free.

Social networking site Twitter was the first to report the strange news. In a blog, Senior Platform Manager of Facebook, Dave Morin wrote, "Bill Gates just released mosquitos into the audience at TED".

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's media office confirmed the peculiar presentation of Gates on malaria prevention. Assuring that the "insects released were not carrying malaria," a spokesman of the foundation stated that Gates is hotly campaigning against malaria.

In September last year, the Microsoft founder announced that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will offer the fund of $168.7 million to the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative to help develop a vaccine for the deadly disease.