In spina bifida occulta, the spinal cord and surrounding tissue don't protrude, nor is any of the tissue forced into the spaces in between the vertebrae.
For example, it could be a congenital defect like spina bifida, or an acquired one like a skull fracture, where there might be CSF leaking through the sinuses.
In fact, occulta is latin for hidden, which is appropriate, since many of the normal prenatal tests used to diagnose spina bifida don't catch the disorder, because the deformities in the tissues of the lower back are tiny.
Other risk factors for having a child with spina bifida include obesity, poorly controlled diabetes, and taking medications that interfere with folate metabolism, like certain anti-seizure medications.
Now, the exact cause of all three types of spina bifida isn't known, but there are known risk factors like folate or Vitamin B9 deficiency during fetal development.
In fact, Cash's story begins when his parents went in to get a routine pregnancy ultrasound and were told his spinal cord would never develop properly because he had a condition called spina bifida.
A long-running project following 285,000 Chinese women, begun in 1983, helped demonstrate that folic acid could prevent spina bifida, a rare birth defect.
There's still a documented disparity in rates of neural tube defects, including spina bifida between Hispanic and non-Hispanic populations in the United States.
This one's the least common form of spina bifida, and because the spinal cord itself is not damaged, these individuals often do not experience the severe symptoms that are seen in myelomeningocele.
My grandmother vividly remembers when folate started being included as one of the vitamins in enriched grains and how quickly it seemed to affect the number of children born with spina bifida.
We have talked, I think, in the recent behind the scenes about my mom and my mom's work with disabled people for most of her career and that included working with some kids with spina bifida.