05 Jan 2009 17:14:53 GMT
Source: Reuters

LUANDA, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Angola closed part of its northeastern border
with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Monday to stop the
contagious Ebola virus from spreading into the oil-rich African nation,
the health minister said.

Jose Van-Dunem said Angolan authorities would ban all trade and movement
of people from the diamond-rich province of Lunda Norte to the DRC where
an outbreak of Ebola is suspected of infecting 40 people -- including 13
deaths -- since November.

"We are suspending all movement of people and trade with the DRC in the
province of Lunda Norte," he told journalists, adding that no cases of
Ebola, which causes vomiting, diarrhoea, and internal and external
bleeding, had been diagnosed in Angola.

Angola's military and police are on the look out for any possible signs
of the Ebola virus in the northeastern provinces of Moxico, Malange,
Uige and Luanda Sul because of their proximity to the DRC, he said.

The outbreak of the Ebola virus is believed to have taken place in the
DRC's Western Kasai province. The viral haemorrhagic fever, for which
there is no known cure, kills more than 30 percent of its victims.

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