Sidney Crosby latest NHL player confirmed to have mumps

Crosby-mumps-ftr.jpg

If you saw the images of Sidney Crosby this week, you will not be surprised to know the Pittsburgh Penguins captain has the mumps.

Photos showed Crosby with grotesquely swollen jowls. The team confirmed Crosby's illness on its website, and reports called him the 13th NHL player stricken by what is usually a childhood disease.

MORE: It's the spit — doctor links NHL checking to spread of disease | What's next?

"Crosby will continue to be monitored daily, but specialists believe he should be through the infectious period by Monday," the Penguins said in a statement. "He will not play in Monday's home game against the Tampa Bay Lightning."

Crosby is no stranger to injuries, including concussions and a broken jaw.

Penguins officials are now let to wonder who might be next to come down with the mumps. Crosby skated with his teammates on Friday, a time he likely could have spread the disease. However, team officials said because only his right jowl was swollen they allowed him to join the team. Mumps usually presents on both sides of the face.

It wasn't until tests Saturday that Crosby's case of the mumps was confirmed, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

“Quite frankly that decision was approved,” general manager Jim Rutherford said Friday. “His condition worsened after the skate. That's when I got the call from Dr. Vyas. I think it was at 5 in the afternoon. He said he could play in the game, but there certainly would be risk. That's when we said we weren't going to do that.”

Questions are being raised as a result of the NHL mumps outbreak. However, reports note that Crosby received vaccination for the disease as a child and a booster before leaving for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Crosby is not along among Olympians stricken. Canada's Corey Perry and Team USA's Ryan Suter have had it, as well as New York Rangers forward Tanner Glass, the Anaheim Ducks' Francois Beauchemin and Travis Zajac and Adam Larsson of the New Jersey Devils. The others: Clayton Stoner and Emerson Etem of the Ducks; and Keith Ballard, Marco Scandella, Jonas Brodin and Christian Folin, Suter teammates on the Minnesota Wild.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, mumps is a virus that spread through the saliva or mucus from the mouth, nose or throat of an infected person through coughing, sneezing or talking. It can also be spread through the shared use of drinking cups or eating utensils.

Spit and snot extruded during hockey games, particularly on checks, are seen as the prime source of transmission.

Author(s)