ByREUTERS

JUNE 15, 2026 13:23

The chance that a traveler carrying Ebola reaches the United States during the 2026 World Cup, which began last week, stays low but not absent. If such a case occurs, American hospitals stand equipped to respond, according to US infectious disease specialists.

Such readiness was not always in place.

In the 2014 West African Ebola outbreak, Liberian man Thomas Eric Duncan arrived at a Dallas hospital showing symptoms yet was initially sent away before admission.

Two nurses became infected but recovered.

The episode triggered $260 million in US funding for Ebola preparedness training and response systems, along with 13 specialized treatment centers designed to help hospitals detect, isolate and treat suspected patients safely.

"We are not going to be able to prevent 100 percent of infections, but we certainly are the most prepared that we have ever been," said Dr. Gavin Harris, an expert in serious communicable diseases at Emory University in Atlanta, one of 11 US World Cup host cities.

Public health officials and hospitals in the US host cities have prepared for various infectious disease threats as 6.5 million fans travel across North America during the 39-day event with 104 matches in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization have all rated the Ebola risk to World Cup host countries as low. They point to measles, COVID-19 and influenza, which spread in large crowds, as the primary concerns.

Still, the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has infected more than 675 people and killed more than 135 continues to draw attention.

"The risk of Ebola to anyone at the World Cup is extremely low. Ebola is not airborne and does not spread through casual contact. It requires direct contact with the body fluids of someone who is ill," said Dr. Tom Frieden, chief executive of Resolve to Save Lives and former director of the CDC.

"But low is not zero, and it will not be zero until the outbreak is stopped at its source in DRC."

Learning from the past

US Ebola preparedness efforts that started in 2015 grew from collaboration among Emory University, the University of Nebraska Medical Center and NYC Health plus Hospitals/Bellevue in New York City. These facilities treated Ebola patients during the West African outbreak, the largest recorded.

"There was a recognition that we had a duty to train other facilities to recognize potential patients who might be exposed or sick with something like Ebola," Emory's Harris said.

Thousands of healthcare workers have since received training to identify and care for patients with Ebola and other serious pathogens.

For the World Cup, preparedness experts have run nationwide training exercises that simulate a potential MERS outbreak at the games.

They have also prepared guidance for physicians to raise awareness of illnesses uncommon in their home cities, including mosquito-borne conditions such as malaria, dengue and chikungunya.

The United States, Mexico and Canada have put airport screening and travel bans in place that restrict entry of non-citizens with recent travel to affected countries. The US has also urged Europe to adopt similar measures. Harris noted that these bans are likely to reduce the chances of Ebola appearing at World Cup venues.

To meet US rules, the DRC national soccer team departed the country in May and trained in Belgium before traveling to the United States.

In each host city, FIFA, local public health officials and hospital systems have formed medical committees that have conducted Ebola and other infectious disease threat assessments based on the teams playing in their cities, diseases common in their home countries, visa restrictions and stadium logistics, Harris said.

Some areas have considered supplying disease-specific treatments or protective gear to the venues and are using surveillance tools, including wastewater monitoring, air quality data and electronic medical records, to spot unusual illness clusters.

FIFA stated that medical-related risks are assessed as part of overall tournament planning and managed in close coordination with the host cities, which supply medical leaders to oversee and coordinate services.

It added that it is monitoring the Ebola outbreak and remains in contact with sporting and health authorities in the DRC and the three host countries.

Filling in the gaps

Dr. Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota, said planning for mass gatherings in the US is not new.

"State and local health departments working in conjunction with CDC have for many years been at the forefront of individuals coming into this country," he said.

To support disease monitoring and coordination, Georgetown University has established an independent Health Security Operations Center in partnership with more than 30 public and private sector entities.

More than 700 state and local health authorities have signed up for the group's daily reports, as have some 60 federal partners, FIFA and the CDC.

Even so, staff reductions at the CDC, the US exit from WHO, and pressure on state and local health departments that have faced the largest US measles outbreak in decades have created challenges, Frieden and two other experts said.

"My biggest concern is whether a CDC that has lost thousands of staff has the capacity, support, and mandate to move fast enough, both here and in DRC," Frieden said.

The US Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, did not respond to a request for comment.

Jeanne Marrazzo, chief executive of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s cuts to public health have prompted an exodus from government agencies.

"Nonetheless, we know the people who are still there are working around the clock in many cases to try to keep us safe," she said in a briefing.