Five members of the Vancouver Canucks squad have shown symptoms of the highly contagious virus mumps and are not expected to play on Saturday, the National Hockey League team said on Friday.
Defenseman Troy Stecher has a confirmed diagnosis with centres Markus Granlund and Michael Chaput as well as defensemen Christopher Tanev and Nikita Tryamkin also potentially affected, the Canucks said on their website.
"We're taking this very seriously given how easily mumps can spread," the team's general manager Jim Benning said.
Players with symptoms are immediately tested and quarantined for five days or until test results prove negative.
Health officials were at the team's arena on Friday to screen players and staff and immunise those whose need it.
"We're sitting here with our fingers crossed," Benning said. "We don't know if there will be more."
The Canucks play the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.
The NHL last experienced a major mumps outbreak in 2014 with 14 players affected.
