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 Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby sat out his team's
Monday game after becoming the 13th NHL player since early November
to come down with the highly contagious disease that is usually
found in children.
"The main thing now is that everybody is aware of it and from what I
understand most teams have given their players booster shots," Dr.
Judith Aberg, chief of the infectious diseases division at the Icahn
School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, told
Reuters.
"The vaccines take two-to-four weeks to have their maximum effect so
they're just starting to kick in. ... It (the outbreak) should be
starting to run its course."
 Mumps is an infection of the salivary glands and can lead to facial
swelling, fatigue, loss of appetite and muscle aches. It is spread
through saliva or mucus, usually when a person coughs, sneezes or
talks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Debra Spicehandler, co-chief of Infectious Disease at Northern
Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, New York, agreed that the
outbreak had likely peaked.
But according to Spicehandler, it will take at least a couple of
weeks before it is known whether the NHL is mumps free because the
incubation period of the virus can be that long.
"I think we'll see a few more cases come up," said Spicehandler.
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Three Anaheim Ducks players had the first confirmed cases of mumps
in the NHL and the virus has since spread to at least four other
teams.
Penguins forward Beau Bennett has a suspected case of the mumps and
has been quarantined and tested. The results are expected later on
Tuesday.
Aberg is surprised that mumps is not more prevalent in the NHL and
other sports where athletes are in close face-to-face proximity.
"I've gone to hockey games and they hit hard and you can see a spray
of saliva. In that context, 15 cases is not so bad."
(This story has been refiled to fix typo in headline)
(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina; Editing by Frank
Pingue)
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