With hundreds of thousands of people from around the world flocking to the London Games, health officials are concerned with an potential increase in contagious bugs or even the spread of new strains. According to reports from The Telegraph, monitoring systems will be expanded leading up to and during the Games, to ensure viruses are controlled early on.

Although it is not expected to be the main threat of the Games, officials warn: "The likelihood of a new, or newly recognized, infectious disease spreading to the UK is low but, with large numbers of visitors entering the UK at that time, we will need to be alert to these and to the more likely, but less serious, risk of a food borne illness or gastrointestinal outbreak such as norovirus."

A spokeswoman for the Health Protection Agency said: "In the lead-up and during the Olympics we are enhancing surveillance systems by including emergency departments, walk-in centers and out-of-hours general practitioners, as international visitors are most likely to use these services.

"We will be receiving laboratory reports, clinical notifications, as well as reports of symptoms people are presenting with to their GPs. These will inform our public health response, which includes prompt investigation and control of any infectious disease outbreaks, as is current practice."

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