Members of Virginia mission groups that traveled to El Salvador this year developed a lung disease usually caused by exposure to bird droppings. A Virginia Department of Health official said the episode is a reminder for people to be aware of health risks when working in areas where particular illnesses are more prevalent. Groups from Pennsylvania and Virginia affiliated with the mission traveled separately on three occasions to the Central American country to renovate a church. Public health investigators believe that while digging, sweeping and cleaning up they were exposed to fungal spores that cause the lung disease histoplasmosis.