President Trump did not know the difference between HPV and HIV, Bill Gates says
Microsoft founder Bill Gates, in a video obtained by MSNBC, revealed that President Donald Trump did not know the difference between two very important sexually transmitted diseases — human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and human papillomavirus (HPV), reports state.
Gates, in the video, stated that Trump, after the presidential elections in 2016, had asked him on separate occasions whether HIV and HPV were the same things.
Reports state that the said first meeting between the duo was at Trump Tower in December 2016 and then in March 2017 at the White House.
Gates, while speaking to an amused audience in the video, said: "Both times he wanted to know if there was a difference between HIV and HPV. So, I was able to explain that those are rarely confused with each other."
According to the MSNBC host Chris Hayes, Gates was reportedly speaking during a meeting of the Bill and Melinda Gates staff earlier this week when he mentioned Trump's oblivion to STDs.
Gates, in the video, also described a time when he saw the president speaking with his 22-year-old daughter, Jennifer Gates. "And then, like 20 minutes later, he flew in a helicopter to the same place. So, clearly, he had been driven away, but he wanted to make a grand entrance in a helicopter," Gates said.
"When I first talked to him, it was actually kind of scary how much he knew about my daughter's appearance. Melinda didn't like that too well," the billionaire added.
The Microsoft founder also revealed that the president, who was newly elected at the time, had asked him whether vaccines were a "bad thing." Gates added that Trump said he was enquiring about the vaccines as he was reportedly exploring the idea of formulation a commission to look into "ill effects of vaccines."
Gates then reportedly advised the president to not formulate such a commission. "I said, 'No, that's a dead end. That would be a bad thing. Don't do that," Gates said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), HIV and HPV are entirely different virus forms. HPV is reportedly the most common sexual transmittable disease, which infects nearly 70 million people in the United States. Reports state that people who have HPV generally do not have health problems, however, it can result in genital warts and cancer in severe cases.