 As a result, many descendants of the Fugates were born with met-H.

Descendants with the disease gene continued to live in the areas around Troublesome Creek and Ball Creek into the 20th century, eventually coming to the attention of the nurse Ruth Pendergrass and the hematologist Madison Cawein III, who made a detailed study of their condition and ancestry.Cawein treated the family with methylene blue, which eased their symptoms and reduced the blue coloring of their skin.He eventually published his research in the "Archives of Internal Medicine" in 1964.