ATLANTA--Father Joseph Beltran and his brother-in-law Henry Cebulski of Conyers are in serious condition with malaria at DeKalb Medical Center after being bitten by mosquitoes while visiting the Ivory Coast in West Africa.

They went to the Ivory Coast the first week in March along with Mrs. Henry (Angie) Cebulski and Jerry Cebulski, 40-year-old son of the couple, to visit Sister Sponsa Beltran, a Bernadine nun who has long served in Cape Palmas, Liberia. The chaotic breakdown of law and order in Liberia had earlier forced Sister Sponsa to take refuge in San Pedro, Ivory Coast. With her came the young children from the rehabilitation center she operated in Cape Palmas.

According to Frank Beltran, brother of Father Beltran, Mrs. Cebulski, and Sister Sponsa, both men had been bitten by mosquitoes during the visit. The type of malaria transmitted by the insects is called falciparum, considered the most deadly common to West Africa.

The travelers had prepared for the trip by taking a preventive drug about a week before leaving but it was not effective against this particular strain.

After being home about a week, Henry Cebulski began to feel “under the weather,” according to Frank Beltran, and was admitted to Rockdale Hospital. When his kidneys began to fail he was transferred to DeKalb Medical Center on March 20. The next day, Father Beltran was admitted to DeKalb.

Both are being treated in the critical care unit at DeKalb. Father Beltran had been moved to a private room on Friday, March 24, but was returned to CCU the next day. That evening, Frank Beltran said, he became unconscious and had to be put on a respirator. Henry Cebulski had been put on a respirator a few days earlier. He is reported to have suffered permanent kidney damage.

Since the incubation period for this type of malaria is from eight to 30 days, both Angie Cebulski and her son Jerry are having their blood tested frequently.

Another brother, Archbishop Eusebius Beltran, of Oklahoma City, Okla., formerly a priest of the Atlanta Archdiocese, arrived early on March 27 to be with the family.

Father Beltran, 65, suffered a stroke in February, 1993. He had been named administrator of St. Gabriel Mission in Fayetteville, in mid-1992. This was his first trip to West Africa. Henry Cebulski, 70, and his wife Angie had made the trip twice before. Their son Jerry had visited his aunt once before.

According to Deacon Al McHugh, of St. Gabriel’s a prayer line was activated at the mission to pray for the two men.