Over a million visitors are expected to arrive in the United Kingdom throughout the duration of the Games of the 30^th Olympiad that cover the period July 27 through August 12, 2012. The vast majority will be concentrated in London, the primary location for most of the sporting events. Preparations for dealing with any eventuality have been underway ever since the awarding of the Olympics to London in July 2005.

In the United States, the Disaster Information Management Research Center (DIMRC), which was created “to help with national emergency preparedness, response and recovery efforts,” maintains an excellent website that includes a section entitled Public Health Preparedness for Mass Gatherings. Among the downloads available are Mass Gatherings and Public Health: The Experience of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games (PDF 4MB); Safe and Healthy Mass Gatherings: A Health and Safety Planning Manual for Public Events (PDF, 363KB); Special Events Contingency Planning for Public Safety Agencies, a course produced by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); and Special Events Contingency Planning: Job Aids Manual (PDF, 922 KB).

The website also includes sections on Public Health Preparedness and Mass Casualties, Outbreaks and Communicable Diseases and Mass Gatherings and resources from the National Library of Medicine (NLM) that includes over 200 articles available through PubMed which is a free resource developed and maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information® (NCBI) at the National Library of Medicine®.