An infectious disease doctor believes that saliva-spraying hits are putting NHL players at risk of contracting and spreading the mumps.
Across the nation, a number of players from various teams have contracted the mumps, a contagious viral disease that is generally associated with children. The NHL has recently discovered just how difficult the illness is to contain and suppress.
It began in Anaheim where three players became infected in early November. The disease then jumped to Minnesota where five players came down with the illness. More than 1,000 miles away, Tanner Glass of the New York Rangers also became ill at the end of November. As of Wednesday, the most recent players to fall victim to the disease were Travis Zajac and Adam Larsson of the New Jersey Devils.
NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told the Associated Press, "It is certainly an outbreak that was unexpected and has caused unwanted disruption at the team level, but it is not something we have any significant control over. As long as our clubs are doing what they need to do to minimize risk of contraction, we are hopeful that the wave of cases will run their course and life will return to normal."
But just how did the mumps manage to make its way from locker room to locker room across the country?
"You see the hits that they have, and sometimes the spraying of saliva," Dr. Judith Aberg, chief of the infectious diseases division at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital, said. "I think they are high risk. I am surprised we haven’t actually seen this before."
To help protect the various franchises, the NHL and the players’ association distributed beneficial information on methods used for defense against the disease. Vaccinations are available but are administered at the discretion of team medical staffs and individual players.