San Diego State football program dealing with mumps outbreak ahead of first-ever Pac-12 game

Numerous San Diego State football players have the mumps.

San Diego County announced Wednesday that there had been 14 confirmed cases and one probable case of the mumps at the university. In a statement distributed to the school, the university said "the outbreak remains within a single athletic team, and one associated case."

The number of mumps cases is up significantly from Sept. 18, when SDSU officially announced three confirmed cases and two probable cases of mumps within that sports team.

At his news conference earlier in the week, SDSU coach Sean Lewis alluded to players dealing with non-football injuries and sicknesses but would not go into detail or identify any of the players.

"Not going to comment any further about all of that out of respect for those kids' privacy and what we have — and what they're doing," Lewis said.

Wednesday evening, San Diego State had 15 players either listed as "out" or "doubtful" for Saturday's game against Texas State on its initial Pac-12 injury report.

That group of players included top running backs Javian Kinnard and Lucky Sutton. Kinnard, who is among those doubtful, has 56 carries for 312 yards. Sutton, who is listed as out, has 45 carries for 150 yards and three scores. Both players suffered injuries in the team's Week 4 loss to Toledo.

Mumps is a viral illness that can cause painful swelling of the salivary glands and make it difficult to eat and talk. The virus can also make people develop flu-like symptoms and, in some cases, lead to swollen testicles in men.

The respiratory virus can easily spread among those who are in close contact and the typical treatment is to let it run its course over the course of a week or so. The school is providing a free vaccination clinic on Thursday for students who want to get a booster shot because of the ongoing outbreak.

San Diego State is 1-3 entering its first Pac-12 game ever against the Bobcats in Week 5. The Aztecs have lost all three games they have played to FBS teams by at least 13 points so far this season as they moved from the Mountain West in the offseason. The rebuilt Pac-12 added SDSU, Texas State, Fresno State, Colorado State, Boise State and Utah State to form an eight-team conference with Oregon State and Washington State after the league essentially disbanded ahead of the 2024 season.