blue people of kentucky. were not talking about... the smurfs clinically depressed people fans of...
TRANSCRIPT
BLUE PEOPLE OF KENTUCKY
We’re not talking about...• The smurfs• Clinically depressed people• Fans of B.B. King• The Blue Man Group• Avatarians
Ingesting elemental silver can also turn the skin blue. This man, Paul Karason, rubbed colloidal
silver on his face and skin many years ago to treat a skin condition, which made him slowly turn a
bluish/grey color.
WHO ARE THEY?"Blue People" are descendants of Martin Fugate, who suffered from a recessive gene which limits or stops the production of the enzyme diaphorase (enzymes that catalyze the reduction of various dyes to act as hydrogen acceptors NADH + NADPH).
What makes them blue?• Methemoglobinemia• Red blood cells (RBC) from blue people are
deficient in NADH diaphorase activity and cannot reduce the oxidized iron in methemoglobin (metHb).
• The lack of this enzyme gives people a blueish cast to their skin rather than pink. Lack of oxygen to RBC gives this color.
Interview
• '"He was almost purple,"' his father, Alva Stacy, recalls." Benjy was born in a maternity ward near Hazard, Kentucky and was rushed by ambulance to a medical clinic in Lexington to find help for his blue problem. Days of testing provided no answers; but then Benjy's grandmother told the doctor a story about the "blue" Fugates. Incredibly, Benjy had inherited a gene dating back over 162 years! Thankfully, Benjy lost his blue shade after a few weeks and the only lingering effects were blue fingernails and lips when he was cold or angry.
Fugate FamilyFather + 4 children are blue
Luna Fugate and John Stacey
• Lorenzo Dow Fugate and Eleanor Fugate. Lorenzo Dow was also know as "Blue Anze"
Real Folks
Of Lonesome Creek, Kentucky
In Hazard, the County Seat
Symptoms
• Blue colored skin• Headaches• Fatigue• Coma• Death
Treatment
• The homozygous patient (bb) daily ingestion of ascorbic acid to increase non- enzymatic reduction of methemoglobin
• or the use of methylene blue (oddly enough)- acts as an e- donor
Degree of Blueness
• BB for the normal allele – not blue• Bb - heterozygotes for the blue trait -
do contain some NADH diaphorase activity –(blue lips, blue fingernails)
• bb – homozygous recessive - blue skin
Blue Pedigree of Fugates
Get Handout • = male with it
• = female with it
Pedigree Symbols
More Pedigree Symbols
Found on WikiPedia: There is a mistake here. Can you find it?
bb Bb BB
Pedigree of Fugates
•Can you work out the genotypes?
Pedigree with Genotypes
• trait visible
• carrier
PRINT AND COLOR
Pedigree Videos• Media Showcase: Pedigree
• Understanding Pedigrees (6:41)• Solving a Pedigree - the Fast Way (example
1) (6:42)
• Solving a Pedigree The Fast Way -example 2(6:46)
You Will Make a Pedigree of Your Own Family
GET INSTRUCTION SHEET
Choose a trait from the lab of Variations of a Human Face (the one you drew the face on)