Influenza A Outbreaks in Two Professional Ice Hockey Teams during COVID-19 Epidemic

Niklas Lindblad; Timo Hänninen; Maarit Valtonen; Olli J Heinonen; Matti Waris; Olli Ruuskanen

doi:10.3390/v14122730

Influenza A Outbreaks in Two Professional Ice Hockey Teams during COVID-19 Epidemic

Viruses. 2022 Dec 7;14(12):2730. doi: 10.3390/v14122730.

Authors

Niklas Lindblad¹, Timo Hänninen², Maarit Valtonen³, Olli J Heinonen¹, Matti Waris^{4

5}, Olli Ruuskanen⁶

Affiliations

¹ Unit for Health and Physical Activity, Paavo Nurmi Centre, University of Turku, 20520 Turku, Finland.
² Tampere Research Centre of Sports Medicine, UKK Institute for Health Promotion Research, 33500 Tampere, Finland.
³ Finnish Institute of High Performance KIHU, 40700 Jyväskylä, Finland.
⁴ Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, 20520 Turku, Finland.
⁵ Department of Clinical Microbiology, Turku University Hospital, 20521 Turku, Finland.
⁶ Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Turku University Hospital, 20521 Turku, Finland.

Abstract

Influenza A outbreaks occurred in two professional hockey teams just after two games they played against each other. Thirteen players and two staff members fell ill during 17-20 April 2022, while COVID-19 was prevalent. Altogether, seven players missed an important game due to influenza. The rapid diagnosis permitted effective pharmaceutical and nonpharmaceutical control of the outbreaks.

Keywords: athlete; exercise; ice hockey; influenza; respiratory virus.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / epidemiology
Disease Outbreaks / prevention & control
Epidemics*
Hockey*
Humans
Influenza, Human* / epidemiology
Influenza, Human* / prevention & control

Grants and funding

This research was supported by Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation.