FORT COLLINS — Larimer County Health officials worried that an outbreak of bacterial meningococcal may have spread during a Saturday evening pick-up hockey game in Windsor have confirmed a third player is ill with the disease.
Health officials said today a man who played in a league hockey game in at the Edora rink in Fort Collins on June 9 is in critical condition at a Montana hospital.
Health department officials said they are trying to contact players who may have been exposed during a June 12 game in which a man who now is in critical condition at Poudre Valley Hospital with a meningococcal infection also played.
The unidentified man also played in a June 9 league game in Fort Collins in which Brian Wormus played.
Wormus, 29, died from meningococcal disease on Monday.
Two other cases of meningococcal infection have been reported in Fort Collins.
The first, a Colorado State University student, became ill over Memorial Day weekend. His illness is confirmed as bacterial meningococcal infection. The second was reported Monday, but health officials say his infection appears to be viral and unrelated to the hockey games.
Larimer County Department of Health and Environment director Dr. Adrienne LeBailly said about 30 players from both Fort Collins league teams received preventative doses of antibiotics last night.
“We are also trying to contact the persons who played in the pick-up game in Windsor, but we have limited information about those players because it was not a league game with a known roster,” LeBailly said.
She said the health department has posted warnings at the Windsor rink advising players to get antibiotics.
Northern Colorado Ice Center managers estimate there may have been as many as 25 people who played in the pick-up game Saturday.
Meningococcal infection is spread through saliva and other excretions of the mouth and nose. Health officials said they thought the disease may have been spread during the hockey games as players removed their mouth guards and then shook hands, or if they shared water bottles.
