Infectious Disease Risk at the World Cup

This is part 1 in a two-part series on the diseases that may circulate surrounding World Cup events and how public health officials have prepared for them. Part 2 will be published tomorrow.

In early April, Krutika Kuppalli, MD, gave a presentation on infectious diseases Texas doctors might encounter during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which takes place tomorrow through July 19 in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

As co-director for the Texas Department of State Health Services World Cup Infectious Diseases Consultation Hotline, Kuppalli must anticipate which infectious diseases could be at the World Cup.  

Kuppalli knew that Dallas was hosting the Argentinian soccer team, so she briefly mentioned the Andes hantavirus. At the time, she had no idea it would soon make headlines for sparking a cruise ship outbreak.

“Hantavirus was on my list of things to think about,” Kuppalli, an associate professor of infectious diseases in the School of Public Health at UT Southwestern, told CIDRAP News. “Would it be on the differential [diagnostic list] if I had a patient from Argentina who was from an area that we know where the vector is found? Yes. But it’s not the most common thing I think about.” 

While hantavirus can’t be ruled out as a possibility, she and hundreds of other public health experts from across the United States are bracing for more quotidian illnesses such as flu, COVID-19, chlamydia, and norovirus as more than 6.5 million fans converge on 16 cities—and share pathogens with each other. 

Measles a top concern

Forty-eight national soccer teams will compete in 104 games across the 16 cities in 11 metro areas. Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, Seattle, and the San Francisco Bay Area will host the US games. 

Public health professionals in the 11 US host metros have been planning how to protect fans from these diseases during the World Cup. Over the past 18 months, James Garrow, MPH, has been working with colleagues in Philadelphia on how to tackle public health readiness and response during the tournament. In many ways, the health department will do what it usually does.