Journal Article

Enhancing Surveillance for Mass Gatherings

Fleischauer, Aaron T., Gaines, Joanna

2017

Overview

Mass-gathering epidemiology is an emerging discipline in applied public health. High-profile mass gatherings include major sporting events (eg, the Olympics, the FIFA World Cup [Fedération Internationale Football Association]), religious events (eg, the Hajj, World Youth Day), cultural festivals (eg, Glastonbury Music Festival), and US National Special Security Events (eg, political conventions), among other locally defined events. These events may impose short-term pressures on local and regional public health infrastructure. In accordance with the International Health Regulations, the World Health Organization offers guidance for public health planning, surveillance, and response during mass gatherings. Public health risks associated with mass gatherings are well documented and encompass a variety of focus areas, from environmental health hazards to infectious diseases. Because of the diverse nature of mass gatherings, different factors contribute to the health and safety risks for participants. A 2002 review of the mass-gathering medical literature categorized different variables and their possible causal relationships to health outcomes. These variables included weather, attendance, duration of event, location of event, event type, crowd mood, alcohol or drug use, crowd density, and age of attendees. Although infectious disease outbreaks and injury clusters have been reported during mass gatherings, the large number of annual events held worldwide without reports of adverse events suggests that these occurrences are relatively rare—though publication bias may have led to some underestimation. Nonetheless, a local public health agency must be prepared to enhance its surveillance capacity to detect and investigate an outbreak, mass exposure, or injury cluster that could damage the credibility of the event or exert a substantial human or economic impact.

• Publisher: SAGE,SAGE Publications,SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subject: Alcohol use / Conventions / Credibility / Critical incidents / Crowds / Disaster Planning - methods / Disease / Drug abuse / Economic impact / Emotions / Environmental hazards / Environmental health / Epidemiology / Festivals / Football / Health care policy / Health hazards / Health planning / Health risks / Health status / Health surveillance / Humans / Infectious diseases / Infrastructure / Injuries / International regulations / Medical literature / Monitoring Mass Gatherings / Music / National security / Outbreaks / Planners / Political conventions / Population Surveillance - methods / Public health / Public Health Surveillance - methods / Safety regulations / Sentinel Surveillance / Substance abuse / Surveillance / United States / Variables / Weather