Top 5 medical sites

These days, it seems like there's a medical breakthrough every day, every hour, every minute. Someone told your sister's friend that some doctors might have found a cure for AIDS. Or was it cancer? Maybe it was hair loss? With so much information, and even more misinformation, it's hard to know what's really going on in the medical world.

When you need up-to-the-minute answers, turn to the World Wide Web. To make your search a little easier, here are some of the top medical websites for current and helpful information.

1. Medbroadcast.com
This site is a one-stop shop for everything health related. On the easy-to-navigate homepage, there are a lot of links to different areas of this vast site. There's updated-daily medical and health news, mainly from Canada, but U.S and international news is covered here as well. There is in-depth information on alphabetically listed health conditions from allergies to the West Nile virus. For each topic, a whole new page full of links appears with a variety of issues relating to diagnosing, managing, treating and controlling whatever is ailing you. Keeping up with the ever-expanding and improving Web, Medbroadcast.com also has health videos online, answering questions on everything from being overweight to finding relief for Parkinson's disease. If you need a lot of information on a particular medical issue, this is a great site to visit.

2. MayoClinic.com
This website is a collaborative effort between Web- and medical professionals, designed to give people the tools they need to manage their health. The best part about this site is that, because Web writers compose articles, there's not that "In English, please" feeling you often get when dealing with medical terms. The language is plain and easy to understand. There are a lot of health features on this site, ranging in topics from the merits of medical marijuana to C-sections. The stories aren't being constantly updated, but the topics are timeless so you'll find lots of useful information. There is also an alphabetical list of prescription- and over-the-counter drugs, and by clicking on the drug name you're interested in, you'll find more information such as how to use the medicine properly and what kinds of side effects you may experience. Click on health tools and you'll find calculators for tabulating everything from your pregnancy due date to your skin type. There are over 2,000 people behind this site and it shows.