Viso struck down with the mumps

As a result, the Indy Racing League is asking participants who were in contact with Viso last weekend at Watkins Glen to provide documentation that they have either previously had the illness or been vaccinated for it.

The IRL has also notified the Indiana State Department of Health and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention about Viso's illness.

"Our primary concern is with E.J. and the crew," said HVM team owner Keith Wiggins. "We want to see him return as healthy and quickly as possible and also have the crew checked out due to their close proximity to him.

"We have discussed several different options for this weekend, but none of them enabled us to both preserve the health and interests of E.J., PDVSA HVM Racing and its members, other competitors and teams and the Indy Racing League."

Brian Barnhart, president of competition and operations for the Indy Racing League, said the IRL will ask those who came in contact with Viso to provide documentation or submit to a blood test.

"We are pro-actively working with the appropriate governmental health agencies and the entire IndyCar Series community to inform them about mumps and to take proper precautions," Barnhart said in a statement. "We do not anticipate anyone attending this week's event being at risk because the contagious period does not fall within the weekend."

Mumps is a viral infection that is highly contagious but rarely life-threatening. It affects glands that produce saliva, and symptoms include fever, fatigue, headache, pain below the ears, swelling and tenderness along the jaw and in front of and below the ears.