By September 2014 the Ebola outbreak in West Africa had claimed more than 2600 lives. The disease has no approved drug or vaccines and cases have been treated with experimental drugs. Supportive care is the main stay of treatment of cases. Although research into understanding the pathophysiology of the Ebola virus has been going on for years, difficulty in conducting clinical studies because of outbreaks occurring in isolated remote villages have meant that most of the current literature on the pathophysiology of Ebola virus is from animal models. The 2014 outbreak in West Africa has put a spot light on this infection. Ebola virus infection results in cell necrosis and the ensuing systemic inflammatory responses that occurs causes the clinical symptoms and death in severe cases with a case fatality rate of 50%. Ebola virus targets mainly endothelial cells and macrophages but cells from other tissues can also be infected. Immunity to Ebola virus is not well defined and poorly understood, making development of therapeutic drugs and vaccines challenging. This is a brief review of some current literature on the pathogenesis of Ebola virus.

Betel nut quid chewing is a common cultural practice in the Asia-Pacific region. Much is known about betel quid and its association to pre-malignant and malignant lesions in the oral cavity but little is known about its link to other poor health comes. There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that betel nut quid chewing may play a role in the development of cardiovascular abnormalities in pre-disposed individuals. This review examines some of the current available literature suggesting betel nut quid chewing as cardiovascular risk factor.