Nigerians kicked out of conference

A South Korean university rescinded an
invitation for three Nigerians to attend a
conference and a group of South Korean
medical volunteers called off a trip to West
Africa amid growing concerns about the
spread of the deadly Ebola virus.
The Duksung Women's University in Seoul said
in a statement the school "politely withdrew"
its invitation for three Nigerian students to
attend an international conference that it is
co-hosting with the United Nations starting
from Monday.
Fear about a possible spread of the deadly
virus had prompted a student from the
university to post a plea on the country's
presidential office Web site, asking for the
cancellation of the entire event.
The university has said it was going ahead with
the conference to be attended by students,
including 28 from Africa.
Since February, more than 700 people in West
Africa have died from Ebola, a hemorrhagic
virus with a death rate of up to 90 percent of
those infected. The fatality rate in the
current epidemic is about 60 percent.
South Korea on Monday issued a special travel
advisory asking people to refrain from visiting
Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, while a
group of South Korean medical volunteer
workers scrapped an annual trip to African
countries including Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana
scheduled for August.
South Korean bloggers have posted online
petitions, including one urging South Korean
missionaries working in the region be barred
from returning home.
West African leaders agreed last week to take
stronger measures to try to bring the worst
outbreak of Ebola under control and prevent
it spreading outside the region, including
steps to isolate rural communities ravaged by
the disease.
An American doctor stricken with the deadly
Ebola virus while in Liberia and brought to the
United States for treatment in a special
isolation ward is improving, the top U.S. health
official said on Sunday.