MONTREAL – Newly acquired defenceman Bryan Allen is getting some long-awaited time on the ice after suffering from flu-like symptoms when he first arrived from Anaheim in late November. As a precaution, team officials kept him off the ice for about a week.
“It’s crazy,” he said. “When I was in Anaheim and a couple guys got it, they were in the hospital. They were pretty hard up.”
Allen has not been diagnosed with the illness, but mumps outbreaks are ripping through the NHL. So far, there are 13 confirmed cases of the virus in the league, including Pittsburgh Penguins star forward Sidney Crosby, whose case was confirmed by doctors Sunday.
READ MORE: Sidney Crosby latest victim of NHL mumps outbreak
Three teams who appear especially hard hit include the Ducks, the St. Louis Blues and the Minnesota Wild, who have five players waylaid by the illness. The mumps is a viral infection that affects the salivary glands, causing pain and fatigue. When Crosby appeared on-camera Friday, the side of his jaw was visibly swollen. Though its symptoms can be treated, in rare cases it can cause deafness and infertility, according to Dr. Mitch Shulman of McGill University.
Yet a lingering question Shulman pondered was: how did so many adults come down with an illness that is typically solved by a childhood vaccine?
In short, not everyone gets vaccinated properly. And because some players may have grown up overseas, they may not have gotten shots at all.
“You may not have been vaccinated at all, you may not have been vaccinated properly, and remember, any vaccine is only effective to a certain percentage,” he said. In a sport like hockey, where players frequently share water bottles and have close-knit locker rooms, an isolated case can become an outbreak quickly as teams play around the country, Shulman explained.
“It’s pretty scary,” said Jiri Sakac, who plays left wing. “You can’t really think about that, just focus on hockey.”
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