When we go downwards the groups and across the periods of the periodic table, we can identify dozens of elements which are useful in the Healthcare Industry. Arsenic is one such element, even though it’s toxic. So let’s discuss some important facts on Arsenic in the Industry of healthcare.
Facts on Arsenic
- Atomic Number — 33
- Group — 15
- Period — 4
- Block — p-block
- Electron Configuration — 1s2 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁶ 3d10 4s2 4p3 / [Ar] 3d¹⁰ 4s² 4p³
- Density — 5.7 gcm-3
- Phase at STP (natural phase) — solid
- Isotopes — 73As, 74As, 75As
Early Days…
What do you think is the general medical prescription for social illnesses like paralysis and syphilis that afflict the mentally ill? Currently, health officials prescribe drugs such as “Bismuth”, “Salvarsan”, and “Penicillin” as treatments. But some 18th-century physicians believed, that the best cure for such diseases was to artificially induce another disease in the patient’s body. So, the newly induced disease would overcome the initial disease. Therefore it will be helpful to cure both the diseases.
Julius Wagner-Jauregg, a member of the psychiatric staff at the University of Vienna at the time (1883–89), noted that people with certain neurological disorders showed significant improvement after developing flu. Therefore in 1887 he proposed that such fevers can be deliberately created as a means of treating mentally ill persons. One of the diseases he recommended, in particular, was malaria. This is because the disease can be controlled again by giving quinine once it has formed.