Abstract
The 2010 FIFA World Cup took place in South Africa between 11 June and 11 July 2010. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), in collaboration with the hosting authorities, carried out enhanced epidemic intelligence activities from 7 June to 16 July 2010 for timely detection and monitoring of signals of public health events with a potential to pose a risk to participants and visitors. We adapted ECDC’s routine epidemic intelligence process to targeted event-based surveillance of official and unofficial online information sources. A set of three specifically adapted alerts in the web-based screening system MedISys were set up: potential public health events in South Africa, those occurring in the participating countries and those in the rest of the world. Results were shared with national and international public health partners through daily bulletins. According to pre-established ECDC criteria for the World Cup, 21 events of potential public health relevance were identified at local and international level. Although none of the events detected were evaluated as posing a serious risk for the World Cup, we consider that the investment in targeted event-based surveillance activities during the tournament was relevant as it facilitated real-time detection and assessment of potential threats. An additional benefit was early communication of relevant information to public health partners.
Highlights
The 2010 FIFA World CupThe 2010 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup took place in South Africa between 11 June and 11 July 2010 [1]
Targeted European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) epidemic intelligence (EI) activities during the 2010 World Cup were undertaken for six weeks: 21 incidents of potential public health relevance according to ECDC criteria were detected or monitored
ECDC started to monitor the influenza activity in South Africa before the event, consulting the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) and World Health Organization (WHO) reports supplemented with online media reports, which were verified when necessary
Summary
The 2010 FIFA World Cup. The 2010 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup took place in South Africa between 11 June and 11 July 2010 [1]. The 2010 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup took place in South Africa between 11 June and 11 July 2010 [1] It was one of the largest mass gathering events (MGs) ever organised on the African continent, with the participation of 32 national football teams (Figure), including 11 teams from European Union (EU)/ European Economic Area (EEA) countries: Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. Large numbers of visitors in the same area at the same time may increase the risk of communicable disease outbreaks. Media attention might lead to the need for timely communication to the general public and to participants’ home communities upon their return
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