The men’s football 2026 World Cup taking place simultaneously in Canada, Mexico and the United States is expected to host over six million people across the three countries.
As with every mass gathering, public health experts and health authorities are watching for any outbreaks or clusters that could threaten attendees’ wellbeing.
At Georgetown University in Washington DC Rebecca Katz co-leads the Health Security Operations Center, a non-governmental coordination team focused on infectious disease threats associated with the tournament.
“Mass gatherings are complicated. There are always infectious disease threats that are associated with them,” Katz told Euronews Health.
Its core functions include monitoring disease signals across host city regions and communities travellers are arriving in, issuing health alert notices if significant risks are detected and tracking online discussions related to emerging health concerns.
The complexity of a three-country tournament
Between 11 June and 19 July, over 6 million people will travel to and across the three host countries, with large crowds gathering at venues throughout.
These conditions create particular health challenges for public health and demand heightened monitoring.
“This particular mass gathering is especially complicated, because you have three different countries and over 48 different jurisdictions when you count the base camps and people moving in between all of them,” Katz added.
What are the main diseases being monitored?
The team publishes a daily situation report flagging any new developments and identifying which national teams may face higher risks based on the location of their base camp or upcoming matches.
Some pathogens under surveillance are common to any large gathering of people, such as sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and gastrointestinal and respiratory infections.
However, others are more specific to the region hosting the tournament.
“We monitor a bunch of different pathogens, but I will say the top of mind right now is measles. We certainly have seen cases in the US, Canada, and Mexico,” Katz said, adding that the team is watching the situation “quite carefully” given reports in some jurisdictions where games are planned or national teams are based.
Other pathogens being monitored include dengue, hepatitis A and mpox.
“All of that follows what we traditionally look at in mass gathering events,” Katz noted.
Is Ebola a risk?
The most significant current outbreak globally is the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
“The entire global health community is monitoring what’s happening in the DRC very carefully. It is clearly of great concern and there is a tremendous effort underway to try to assist the DRCs in Uganda in their response,” Katz said.
The Congolese Health Ministry has confirmed 782 cases and 181 deaths in a public health emergency that has put the world on alert.
The United States has travel restrictions for arrivals from the affected countries and has urged other countries to follow suit.
Yet, Katz noted that the risk of Ebola for the World Cup in the US is currently assessed as low.
“By the way that Ebola is transmitted and the mechanisms that have already been put in place to try to contain the outbreak, we are not deeply concerned about it being a threat to the public here,” she added.
The DRC squad arrived in Houston, Texas, on 11 June, where they will train at their base camp ahead of their first scheduled match on 17 June against Portugal.
According to the Health Security Operations Center’s 12 June report, all players and non-playing staff have no recent travel history to the DRC within the past 21 days.
Wastewater: the hidden surveillance tool
One of the most powerful tools Katz and her team are using is wastewater monitoring, a technology that has existed for decades but gained widespread use during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have seen that it can be a tremendously powerful source of surveillance data,” she said, noting that specialists are able to “find the needle in the haystack”.
“If there is that one case of Ebola anywhere, they will find it”.
These early-warning tools allow experts to identify any alarming signals and alert public health authorities in the affected areas before situations escalate.