Well, it's true. If you read the article, you know that shunting technology has been around since the '40s, but it wasn't until the '60s that it really became a viable treatment for hydrocephalus. Those of us born between '62-'72 are the "First Generation" of shunted hydrocephalics to survive into adulthood with a reasonable quality of life. Until that point in time, hydrocephalic children rarely survived into their teens, and it was a very slow, excruciatingly painful death. I just turned 40 in January. I literally owe my life to the invention of the Spitz-Holter shunt.

I'm so glad for you that it was invented and developed. You're the only shunted person I know. Are there a lot of you who keep it private? Or is it quite rare?

Hydrocephalus is generally accepted to occur in 1 out of every 5000 live births. I don't know if they keep statistics on how often it happens as a result of TBI, or what the statistics are for NPH (a form of hydrocephalus which occurs in older people). In the US, that works out to around 68,000 cases of congenital hydrocephalus every year. The population of Houston is around 4 million ppl, which means there are maybe 58 other cases besides me living here right now. So yes, I'd agree with you that it's "quite rare ( ... )

Until e-meeting you, the only thing I'd read of hydrocephalus was that it can be a symptom of toxoplasmosis. One of the classic 'shock' photos that people use to illustrate books and so on, shows a baby with hydrocephalus attributed to that infection. As you know my PhD wasn't about human disease so I never tried to find out who that baby was or how the story went. I used photos of lambs killed by toxoplasmosis, sometimes, but I find that it's not always helpful to emphasise the 'shock' side of my science.

Thank you for telling me about human congenital hydrocephalus. I'm not a biomedical scientist so I won't be following it up. Unless I decide to write a popular-science article about it... what do you think of that idea?

Only if I get co-credit!

:-D

Of course! I haven't yet decided which way I'll go with my science blog but it might include human health.

Whatever you decide, I'm happy and proud to support you.

:-)

Oh thank you! It means a lot to me, as you know, that people believe in me as a science writer. If I do write about hydrocephalus I hope you'll agree to give your opinions.