Ebola fears slowing tourist flow to Africa

A woman walks past an isolation ward (R) set aside for Ebola related cases at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) in the capital Nairobi August 19, 2014. REUTERS/Noor Khamis

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is putting off thousands of tourists who had planned trips to Africa this year, especially Asians, including to destinations thousands of miles from the nearest infected community such as Kenya and South Africa.

Ebola, a hemorrhagic disease which can kill up to 90 percent of those it infects, has claimed more than 1,200 lives this year in the three small West African states of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, and also has a toehold in Nigeria.