[ Kansas Briefs ]

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Apr 13, 2001 by Capital-Journal

- MANHATTAN --- Acapulco visitors sought --- If you visited Acapulco, Mexico, over spring break, the Centers for Disease Control wants you to fill out a questionnaire.

CDC officials contacted all university student health centers, said Dr. E.J. Reppert, medical director of Lafene Health Center at Kansas State University.

"A small number of students who traveled to Acapulco and spent time at the Calinda Beach Hotel during March have contracted a respiratory infection caused by a fungal pathogen called Histoplasma capsulatum," Reppert said. "This disease is usually a mild illness that acts like a cold and occurs one to three weeks after exposure. Recovery is rapid and complete in nearly all persons."

He said one person in 50,000 develops a very severe form of the non-contagious disease, which is contracted by inhalation of spores that live in soil contaminated by bird droppings. Treatment is necessary for those with severe disease but not recommended for people with mild disease.

For more information, visit the CDC Web site at: www.cdc.gov/ travel/other/res-mexico-apr2001.htm.

- BURLINGAME --- Accident victim remains in hospital --- A Burlingame woman injured in a two-car accident Wednesday afternoon in northern Osage County remained in a Topeka hospital Thursday.

Lillabelle Stahl, 87, was injured when the car she was driving and a car driven by Tina Smith, 17, of Perry, collided six miles north and a quarter-mile east of Burlingame on 125th Street. Stahl was admitted to St. Francis Regional Medical Center, but information about her condition wasn't being released, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Also injured in the accident were two passengers in the Smith vehicle, Rosann Smith, 34, and Gary McPherson Jr., 13, both of Perry. Osage County sheriff's investigator Laurie Dunn said both were treated at Stormont-Vail Health Center and released.

- EMPORIA --- Stolen collection returned to Ottawa University --- Sixty-three items from two priceless collections of artifacts that were stolen from Ottawa University in 1994 have been returned.

The artifacts, which were stolen from the Meiers Library, were recovered by the FBI in Oregon after it arrested the alleged thief, Ron Conway, an Ottawa graduate, in November 2000. Originally scheduled to be tried on federal charges in March, Conway plea bargained in order to escape federal prosecution.

Conway, 47, had been indicted in the case in 1998 and had gone into hiding. Members of his family turned him in to authorities last year.

Two men were arrested in conjunction with the case in 1996, and some artifacts were recovered from a home in Independence, Mo., in 1998. However, Ottawa police say some pieces from the collections are still missing.

--- From staff and wire reports