The World Cup may be a year-and-a-half away, but the med center’s biopreparedness experts already are helping prepare others in the region for the international event from a public health perspective.
The National Emerging Special Pathogens Training and Education Center (NETEC), of which Nebraska Medicine and UNMC are founding members, was the coordinating body of the National Special Pathogen System exercise.
It focused on an infectious disease threat during the 2026 World Cup, which will be the largest in the history of the event. With 48 participating countries, 104 matches and 16 host cities spread across the United States, Canada and Mexico, the 39-day event will bring together millions of visitors from around the world.
The 13 Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Centers representing all 10 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regions were invited to take part in the exercise. The goal was to get National Special Pathogen System partners on the same page about their roles in responding to special pathogens. This included figuring out how to handle notifications and communication at the local, regional and national levels, as well as coordinating clinical care, transportation and lab testing during a response.
“Bringing all the key partners together to focus on preparing for the World Cup was a powerful example of how planning and relationships can be used to coordinate response to critical events, like high consequence infectious diseases,” said Angie Vasa, director of biopreparedness and special pathogen programs at Nebraska Medicine. “I am extremely proud of all the work our team put into planning and conducting this exercise to advance our region’s readiness to respond.”
Nebraska Medicine, as the HHS Region 7 Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center, led the regional exercise with representatives from Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and Missouri.
With World Cup games and security training planned in Kansas City, Missouri, and Salina, Kansas, the exercise included participants from health departments, health care coalitions, planning committees, hospitals and EMS agencies across the four states. These discussions help build connections, boost preparedness and advance the National Special Pathogen System.