A Bay Street restaurant popular in legal and banking circles is expected to be open for business Monday after Toronto Public Health warned that four of its employees had been diagnosed with mumps.
While stressing the risk to customers is low, the agency advised that anyone who dined at Ki Restaurant at 181 Bay Street between July 7 and July 18 be mindful of possible symptoms, including swelling and pain in the salivary glands along the cheeks and jaw, fever and headache, aching muscles, fatigue and a loss of appetite.
"The restaurant has been co-operative working with us, they were helpful, they provided a list of all their employees," TPH's associate medical officer Dr. Irene Armstrong said. "We have public health investigators calling every employee to advise on signs and symptoms, how it spreads, telling employees to contact them immediately if they develop symptoms. If they do, we tell them to stay home."
Lawyer Brian Facey of Blake, Cassels & Graydon said he eats at Ki regularly, describing it as "a great spot," but added he is on vacation and had not visited it recently.
Once widespread in Western countries, and still a scourge among children in the developing world who often are not vaccinated, mumps is a contagious disease that is chiefly contracted from respiratory secretion, most commonly saliva, but it can also be spread by sharing food or drinks. The incubation period, before the onset of symptoms, is usually between two and three weeks.
People are infectious for up to seven days before the onset of symptoms, and five days afterward.
Incidences of mumps in Canada rise and fall with occasional outbreaks. During the early 1990s about 400 cases were recorded a year, but the numbers then dropped. Over the past decade in Toronto there has been an annual average of eight cases. In 2010, there were 31, 26 of which were part of an Ontario-wide outbreak stemming from a student who had travelled to Britain.
"It waxes and wanes," Dr. Armstrong said.
Health officials said the origin of the latest outbreak is unclear and the four infected employees at Ki did not know they had mumps until they were asked to check for symptoms.
"Our understanding is that the first person had had contact with someone who subsequently found out they had mumps," Dr. Armstrong said.