The Dolphins had a relatively healthy 2008 season. And their training camp was going relatively well, too, in terms of keeping their players healthy. But things changed on Saturday morning.
The Miami Herald is reporting that at least two players have tested positive for swine flu. The team has not commented on the subject, though, and there's no word on which players have contracted the disease. But three sources confirm that the team informed the players about the disease outbreak at a meeting this morning.
The players who contracted the disease will obviously not be playing tonight - which will allow us to figure out which onesthey are. I'd imagine that the team, though, should be releasing a statement at some point tonight - either before or after the game.
Per the report:
The disease is considered manageable and symptoms in healthy adults tend to be mild, but its high level of contagiousness will cause a serious task for the team's staff of trainers to make sure it doesn't spread to other players as the regular season approaches.
Players have been told to maintain good hygiene, while washing their hands regularly, to avoid coming down with the disease, which can produce mild to strong infections similar to those of the seasonal flu.
Now there have been conflicting reports on who the players are. I heard one person say that Sean Smith is one of the players. But another source believes that "no starters" are involved - which is very vague to say the least. Chad Henne isn't a starter. Vontae Davis isn't, either. Neither is Greg Camarillo right now. So just because it isn't a "starter" doesn't mean it isn't a key player.
More on this as we hear it...
[UPDATE: Orlando Alzugaray of WQAM is reporting that Sean Smith is one of the players - or, at least, that he has "flu-like symptoms" - and he will not play tonight. That sucks.]
[UPDATE #2: Edgar Thompson is reporting via his Twitter that Sean Smith won't be playing tonight, but that it isn't swine flu. He "felt poorly Friday, back Monday" - according to Thompson. Alzugaray just said on the air, too, that it doesn't seem like Smith's illness is related to the swine flu. So who are these two players then?]
[UPDATE #3: Orlando Alzugaray is reporting that Jason Allen is "under the weather" as well and won't be playing tonight.]
[UPDATE #4: Sean Smith's agent, David Canter, says this via Twitter: "Sean Smith is absolutely fine Reports about him are erroneous&misinformed Hell be at practice Monday Thanks for your concern but he's great."]