Mother appeals to imaging industry to educate customers around life-saving technology

HP camera acknowledged as “ remarkable diagnostic tool”

Thursday, 29 May 2008, Johannesburg – HP has launched an awareness drive after a call to action was received from a Canadian mother whose child’s life was saved when an HP digital camera helped detect an irregularity in the infant’s eye.

The mother has acknowledged the HP camera as a remarkable diagnostic tool and has appealed to the imaging industry as a whole to create awareness around the potential of technology in diagnosing diseases not visible to the human eye.

“This mother is urging parents to take a monthly photo of children under the age of 5 in a dimly lit room without the red eye reduction feature on”, says Robbie Johnson IPG Consumer Go to Market Manager, HP SA.

Family photos revealed that the infant, who had a white hue on the left eye, has Retinoblastoma. This is a childhood eye cancer affecting infants and children up to five years of age. The disease accounts for about 3% of paediatric cancers and affects 1 in 15,000 live births. It is a highly malignant form of cancer spreading to the brain through the optic nerve or the bone marrow through the blood, if left untreated.

After having numerous physicians and ophthalmologists analyse the photos it was evident that the photographs taken had identified an irregularity in the eye. The camera technology was able to capture the tumour which was not visible to the human eye thus enabling doctors to easily pin-point the problem and treat it immediately. This exercise saved the infant’s life.

Johnson said that by photographing children under the age of five once a month this would undoubtedly spare numerous children from having to undergo extensive painful treatments, help eliminate avoidable vision loss, help prevent the unnecessary removal of an eye or both eyes, and could very well save their lives.

-ENDS-

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HP focuses on simplifying technology experiences for all of its customers – from individual consumers to the largest businesses. With a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure, HP is among the world’s largest IT companies, with revenue totalling $110.4 billion for the four fiscal quarters ended April 30, 2008. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at www.hp.com.

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5/2008