Dr. Rodger MacArthur was a medical student as the world first became aware of AIDS.
“We had no idea what was about to happen,” he said to a crowd at Greenblatt Library’s Historical Collections and Archives on Tuesday, Aug. 27.
Over time MacArthur, who is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Disease at the Medical College of Georgia, worked vigorously to help fight the epidemic by providing clinical care to patients for 35 years. In addition, he has published over 100 peer reviewed publications in the fields of sepsis and HIV.
“We have learned a lot about resistance,” he said, noting the prospects of survival are much greater now than in the 1980s.
MacArthur also took the opportunity to speak about different patients he had worked with along the way, including having the opportunity to attend one of their retirement parties.
In the 42 years since the epidemic started, doctors have been able to determine the cause of the disease, developed drugs to fight it while using them properly, partnered with HIV advocacy groups for meaningful trials and improved the quality of life for those with the disease.
However, AIDS continues to be an ongoing battle. It’s especially one in Georgia, one of five states that accounted for 52 percent of the country’s new cases in 2016. Also, the United States has issues with linkage and retention for HIV patients.
The talk given by MacArthur is part of an ongoing traveling exhibit the Augusta University Libraries are hosting titled “Surviving and Thriving: AIDS, Politics and Culture.”
The exhibit is on loan from the National Library of Medicine. According to the NLM, it “illustrates an iconic history of HIV/AIDS alongside lesser-known examples of historical figures who changed the course of the pandemic.”
The exhibit consists of six panels ranging from government delays in fighting the epidemic in the 1980s to how the world is fighting the disease today.
AIDS, short for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, first appeared in the United States in 1981. The exhibit is named for a book written in 1987. The book was written for and by people with the disease and promoted the message that people could live with AIDS rather than just dying from it.
The exhibit will remain at Greenblatt through Sept. 21. For more information on the exhibit, click here.
