Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby Diagnosed with Mumps

Jim McIsaac/Getty Images(PITTSBURGH) — Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby has tested positive for mumps.

The National Hockey League team announced on its website Sunday that Crosby has been diagnosed with the viral illness.

“Crosby will continue to be monitored daily, but specialists believe he should be through the infectious period by Monday,” the Penguins said on its site. “He will not play in Monday’s home game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.”

Crosby joins the ranks of nearly two dozen NHL players who have tested positive for mumps in recent weeks, according to local reports. Players for the Anaheim Ducks, the Minnesota Wild, the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils have been affected.

Mumps is a viral illness that effects the salivary glands. Symptoms include swollen glands, fever and fatigue, and although complications are rare, they can be serious, according to the Mayo Clinic. Those include encephalitis and inflammation of the testicles.

Although mumps was once common in the United States, most Americans are immunized against it via the MMR vaccine while toddlers. But the vaccine’s protection weakens over time.

Dr. William Schaffner, who has not treated these hockey players but is chairman of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, said this outbreak reminds him of mumps outbreaks that occur at small colleges because those affected are young adults, including some from foreign countries that don’t have the United States’ “comprehensive” mumps vaccination program. And the players are in close contact.

“What you have in a traveling team that plays together and practices together — sit on airplanes together — is prolonged close contact,” Schaffner said. “If somebody is sick, they need to stop playing, traveling. This virus can spread even before you become sick.”

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