A World Cup health security hub to track threats including measles, dengue and Zika virus among football fans is being established by academics for the first time.

Millions of fans are expected to travel to and across North America for the tournament, which is being held in 16 cities in Canada, Mexico and the United States in June and July. With 48 teams, it will be the biggest World Cup in history.

Yet there are concerns the competition could become a super-spreader event. Mass gatherings from Glastonbury and the Rugby World Cup to the Hajj pilgrimage and mega-church services have all seen outbreaks of diseases, including norovirus, meningitis and Covid-19.

Now, global health academics at Georgetown University in Washington DC are setting up a temporary surveillance hub to monitor these risks this summer. 

Called the Health Security Operations Centre, the unit will operate from a repurposed microbiology lab. The aim is to track, warn and support health officials if any disease runs the risk of spiralling out of control.

It is the first non-government led initiative to monitor and respond to infectious disease outbreaks during a mass event like the World Cup. 

This year, there are particular fears about measles – a highly infectious but vaccine preventable disease that’s in the midst of a major resurgence. 

Back in 2010, Vancouver saw an outbreak of the virus after the Winter Olympics, with 82 cases over the subsequent two months. But this time, the concern is not just importing infections – there are fears fans will take the virus home with them.

In November last year, the region of the Americas – which includes all 35 countries in North, Central, and South America – lost its measles-free status designated by the World Health Organization (WHO) after a swell in cases.

All three host countries are among those experiencing outbreaks. Already this year, Canada has reported 871 cases, the US has confirmed 1,792, and Mexico is experiencing its largest outbreak in decades – there were 13,000 cases and 35 deaths between January and late March. 

“Actually that’s what I’m hearing most from other regions of the world – they’re worried about us exporting measles,” said Prof Rebecca Katz, director of the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University and co-founder of the World Cup project.

Prof Katz told the Telegraph that the academics created the unit because existing preparations had major gaps, which she likened to intermittent wifi on a train. 

“It’s almost worse, in some cases, than not having wifi in the first place – it’s why you want to use a personal hotspot,” she said. “Well, we’re basically the personal hotspot.”

Although individual countries, states and cities do have preparedness plans in place, including surge capacity, it is disconnected. Operating on a “shoestring budget”, the health security unit aims to curb those holes in the network. 

Academics will pull together at least 50 sources of data – from hospital admissions and wastewater surveillance to travel data – to produce daily situation reports for jurisdictions across all three host countries. In case of an outbreak, the team can also offer advice and expertise for the officials on the ground. 

But while such operations would normally be multi-million dollar initiatives, Prof Katz said the team has a budget of $150,000 (£111,000). Students have been recruited to help run the unit, while many partnerships are based on good will – whether that’s computer screens, a data feed or an operating system.

Given the limitations, the unit has narrowed their core focus to measles, Yellow fever, respiratory viruses including Covid-19 and flu, arboviruses like dengue and Zika, and gastrointestinal illnesses. They will also be on the look out for anything unusual – perhaps even the next ‘Disease X’. 

“The thing I’m always most concerned by, from my perspective as a crisis manager, is novel [disease] presentations – the novel viruses, the things you start seeing in reports but don’t necessarily recognise,” said Tim Manning, who is leading the unit with Prof Katz. 

“Covid all over again – that’s always in the back of my head.”

Mr Manning – a former Deputy Administrator at the US Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the White House Covid-19 Supply Coordinator in 2021 and 2022 – added that the unit’s emergence reflects a shifting philosophy from the American government. 

“Many of the structures that would normally have been set up around an event like the World Cup aren’t happening, because the philosophy is that the responsibility should be taken up by others,” said Mr Manning.

America’s exit from the WHO has also complicated the sharing of disease information through official channels, while cuts to agencies like the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reduced federal government capacity. 

“We’re building this for the first time, but our intention is to get the best possible understanding of where everyone is coming from, where they’re going, and the public health environment,” Mr Manning said. “Our priority is to provide actionable information to the officials who need it.” 

He added that the unit is a “real opportunity” to develop a surveillance system that could be refined and replicated in future – for instance during the Summer Olympics in LA in 2028. 

“In some ways, this is a little bit of an experiment,” said Prof Katz. “We’re trying to figure out what the right role for a non-governmental entity is, to operate independently but also support the government as we enter a new phase of public health.” 

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