Introducing
Your new presentation assistant.
Refine, enhance, and tailor your content, source relevant images, and edit visuals quicker than ever before.
Trending searches
Where it all began
The Fugate and Smith families retreated to the forest along the Appalachian Mountains.
Due to the bizarre circumstances, the isolation lead to the intermarriage between close family members. Beginning with the eldest of Fugate's son to his mother's sister. Which eventually lead to inbreeding.
"Nonrandom breeding or mating between close relatives of a population, which share more alleles than non relatives do."
Martin Fugate immigrated from France to Kentucky along the banks of Troublesome Creek near the town of Hazard, Kentucky
Fugate then married a red-headed woman named Elizabeth Smith. Together they had 7 children, 4 of which were born with blue skin.
Approximately 140 years later, Dr. Cawein from the University of Kentucky was able to diagnose the ailment that was still prevalent in many the descendants of Martin and Elizabeth Fugate.
The diagnosis: Methemoglobinemia
"Methemoglobinemia is a rare hereditary blood disorder that results from excess levels of methomoglobin in the blood." The blood is improperly oxygenated and has a brown pigment, which is expressed as a blue color through the skin.
By Shaylee Shocklee
To treat the hereditary disease, Dr. Cawein injected his patients with Methylene Blue which was used as an "electron donor" to help the body return to normal levels of methemoglobin.