Physicians monitoring World Cup soccer for transmission of infectious diseases
UCI Health expert says overall risk of Ebola transmission is low
IN THE NEWS: Thousands of soccer fans from around the world are traveling to the U.S. to attend this year’s men’s World Cup matches. Public health officials across the county are closely monitoring game attendees for infectious disease, such as Ebola and the hantavirus.
Dr. Shruti Gohil, a board-certified infectious disease specialist and the associate medical director of epidemiology and infection prevention at UCI Health, recently spoke with CNBC about why the risk of Ebola transmission is low.
“The overall likelihood of risk is not nonzero, but it’s low, very low, because it is not easy to transmit person to person.”
She also spoke about how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) staff will monitor attendees who have recently returned from places where Ebola and other infectious diseases are more prevalent.
“Individuals are monitored for Ebola not just on the day they arrive back in the country, but for the full incubation period of 21 days.”
Ultimately, public health departments across the nation are working together to actively monitor potential health risks and have systems in place to quickly respond.
Gohil is an associate professor at the UC Irvine School of Medicine. Her clinical interests include hospital epidemiology, infection prevention, communicable disease transmission and multidrug-resistant organism infections.
Gohil has led INSPIRE, a series of national studies to assess patient risk for multidrug-resistant bacterial infections and to prompt physicians to limit the use of extended-spectrum antibacterial drugs in real time. She is a member of The Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Society of Healthcare Epidemiologists in America.
About UCI Health
UCI Health is one of California’s largest academic health systems and the clinical enterprise of the University of California, Irvine. Established on July 1, 1976, UCI Health has grown into a 1,461-bed health system that includes UCI Health — Orange, UCI Health — Irvine, four Community Network hospitals and a growing network of ambulatory care centers across Orange and Los Angeles counties. As Orange County’s only academic health systems, UCI Health is home to the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center based in the county, the region’s only American College of Surgeons-verified Level I adult and Level II pediatric trauma center, American College of Emergency Physicians Gold Level 1 Geriatric Emergency Department and a nationally recognized regional burn center verified by the American Burn Association. Powered by UC Irvine, UCI Health serves 5.6 million people across Orange County, western Riverside County and southeast Los Angeles County through excellence in patient care, research and medical education. Follow UCI Health on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X.