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Objective: We identified socio-demographic, health system and psycho-social barriers to Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) of HIV in the Upper West Region of Ghana.Design: An unmatched case control study of 96 cases and 96 controls was conducted in the ART centers in Lawra district and Wa Municipality between December 2014 and April 2015.Setting: A public health facilityParticipants: We defined a case as an HIV positive mother with an exposed infant who received EID service between January 2011 and December 2014. A control was defined as HIV Positive Mother with an exposed infant who did not receive EID services between January 2011 and December 2014.Main outcome: EID by dry blood spot Deoxyribonucleic acid Polymerase chain reaction.Results: A total of 192 mother-infant pairs were assessed. The mean age of infants at testing for cases was 17.3±14.9 weeks. Mother-to-child-transmission-rate was 2.3%. Factors associated with EID testing included: mother being formallyemployed (cOR=2.0: 95%CI:1.1-3.8), maternal formal education (cOR=2.0, 95%CI: 1.1-3.6) and maternal independent source of income (cOR 2.2, 95%CI 1.2-4.1). After adjusting for confounders, maternal independent incomebsource was associated with EID testing (aOR 2.2, 95%CI 1.2-4.1). Median turn-around time of EID result was 11 weeks (IQR 4-27weeks).Conclusion: Women need to be empowered to gain an independent source of income. This can help maximize the benefits of e-MTCT and increase EID in the Upper West Region of Ghana.Keywords: Barriers; HIV; early infant diagnosis; DNA-PCR; GhanaFunding: This work was funded by the authors

Background Herein, we present the case of a young female patient with keratoconus, who was subjected twice to repeat keratoplasty, and each time, she experienced a corneal graft failure. Findings Under the suspicion of herpetic eye disease, we administered topical and systemic anti-herpetic treatment after the second repeat keratoplasty. The postoperative course was uneventful, and the corneal graft is clear, until recently. Immunohistochemistry and DNA-polymerase chain reaction were negative for herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) in the host cornea, but they detected HSV-1 in both transplanted corneal grafts, thereby supporting our clinical hypothesis that graft-to-host HSV-1 infection elicited this chain reaction of complications in our patient. Conclusion This clinical report illustrates in a unique way the dramatic impact an unsuspected herpetic infection in the corneal graft in cases of keratoplasty may have and underscores the necessity of suspecting and adequately treating these distinct cases.