The mumps outbreak that has affected at least a dozen National Hockey League (NHL) players from several teams has taken down one of the leagues biggest stars, Pittsburgh Penguin’s Captain, Sidney Crosby, according to team officials.
Crosby, who has already missed two games will miss one more as he completes his five-day isolation as per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines.
“It came about as a bit of a surprise to us,” head team physician Dr. Dharmesh Vyas said Sunday afternoon. “Every indication was that he was well protected against the disease.”
Crosby was given immunization and given a booster shot prior to leaving for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia in February. He was also given immunization two weeks ago, along with the entire team, due to the outbreak of mumps in the NHL, according to the Penguins website.
After a lengthy diagnostic run that began in late November after suffered an injury to the right side of his neck, on Saturday, Dec. 13 the star Penguin tested positive for mumps via a special test by the CDC.
The Penguins organization is monitoring the rest of the team and staff for signs and symptoms of mumps.
Mumps is spread by droplets of saliva or mucus from the mouth, nose, or throat of an infected person, usually when the person coughs, sneezes, or talks. Items used by an infected person, such as soft drink cans or eating utensils, can also be contaminated with the virus, which may spread to others if those items are shared.
Mumps symptoms can include fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness, loss of appetite and swollen and tender salivary glands under the ears or jaw on one or both sides of the face (parotitis).
While typically a mild infection, mumps can occasionally cause serious complications.
The most common complication is inflammation of the testicles (orchitis) in males who have reachedpuberty; rarely does this lead to fertility problems.
Other rare complications include inflammation of the brain and/or tissue covering the brain and spinal cord (encephalitis/meningitis), inflammation of the ovaries(oophoritis) and/or breasts (mastitis) in females who have reached puberty and deafness.
From January 1 to August 15, 2014, 965 people in the United States have been reported to have mumps.
Outbreaks in at least four U.S. universities have contributed to these cases: Ohio State University, Fordham University in New York , University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The mumps situation has garnered so much attention that a fake CDC website screenshot has been seen online. The website claims to be dedicated to the NHL mumps outbreak (see link HERE)
For more infectious disease news and information, visit and “like” the Infectious Disease News Facebook page
