For the second time in 2 { years, members of the Wild have been diagnosed with the mumps.
With the Wild coming off its bye week and beginning a stretch of 23 games in 41 days, forwards Zach Parise and Jason Pominville missed Monday's game against Los Angeles.
Also, sources say assistant coach Scott Stevens, who didn't coach Monday and missed Sunday's practice, is showing signs of the mumps, as is a member of the team services staff.
Members of the organization that have symptoms are being tested immediately and placed in isolation for a five-day period, the team said. Doctors recently provided players and staff a measles, mumps and rubella vaccination and the organization will continue to work closely with the NHL, NHLPA and the Minnesota Department of Health.
Mumps is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus. It typically starts with a fever, headache, body aches, fatigue and swollen salivary glands and commonly occurs in places where people have had prolonged, close contact with a person who has mumps, such as playing on the same sports team, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
In 2014, several Wild players were stricken, including defensemen Ryan Suter, Marco Scandella, Jonas Brodin, Christian Folin and Keith Ballard. Brodin missed three weeks, Suter missed a game, so effects vary.
At that time, Parise jokingly talked about the illness that seemed to only affect defensemen, saying: "What is this, the Oregon Trail? Every team seems to get the flu once a year, but the mumps?"
All Wild players, coaches and staff were offered booster shots back then and equipment trainers sanitized all equipment and provided players with individual water bottles. Parise and Pominville were among those who got shots, GM Chuck Fletcher said.
Trainers constantly sanitize equipment, but it was noticeable that Suter's entire set of gear was being sanitized Monday morning.
Last week, the Vancouver Canucks announced that five players were showing signs of the contagious virus with one confirmed case.
Defenseman Troy Stecher was the player confirmed, while Stecher, defensemen Christ Tanev and Nikita Tryamkin and forwards Mike Chaput and Markus Granlund (the younger brother of the Wild's Mikael Granlund) were held out Saturday against San Jose.
Canucks coach Willie Desjardins says two more players _ forward Anton Rodin and defenseman Ben Hutton _ and a trainer are experiencing symptoms of the mumps.
Symptoms usually appear 16-18 days after infection and people are mostly contagious three days before the onset of symptoms and up to nine days after. The Wild did practice in Vancouver on Feb. 3 and play there Feb. 4.
The virus is spread by mucus and saliva, usually when an infected person coughs, sneezes or touches surfaces.
