How reliable is the Internet as a source of health information?

Depends on the site. Some are reliable, some not. Yahoo!Answers is other users, may not be reliable. Sites like WebMD or hospital or AMA or disease specific sites are usually reliable. If they off "sure cures" I would be skeptical.

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If you had been more specific in your question it would have been helpful in getting a better answer. IE; Cancer http://www.cancer.org/

Keith,I wouldn't trust anything on here unless it comes from a government or recognised health source.We have a reasonably good & easily accessed health system in Australia so I'd stick to that if I were you.I have seen some totally inaccurate info posted on this site by other users that is not only wrong,but dangerous to those gullible enough to heed it.

Thanks Keith Old...

As per my opinion what I would say is that now a days internet is very much useful in every issue special for the school going children, their needs are mostly available here and then the project works most requirements could be found here in the websites without further assistance. Then health wise it provides useful information as well. One more thing I would like to highlight here is that the Yahoo Questions and answers give a great experience and knowledge for all. Like for an example most contact like you who always provide very useful details to all in this site which I have noticed many times. When you go back to the past just think the difficulties of having or gathering useful information. And now it is quite easy and quick more than you think. Thanks for your valuable question Keith.

Since when was Y!A a reliable source of information for ANYTHING?

The internet can be a good source of information, but you always need exercise caution and do some research from reputable sources, ie, studies that have undergone proper peer review in the scientific community. There's a lot of misinformation out there.

Hi

It can be reliable - depends what sites you visit

Many sites are just copying other sites - lots of duplicate content so be careful

But there is a lot of good information out there - just be careful & check everything many times over

Hmm, I suppose it's good for some things, but I'd say for greater health concerns it's best to see a doctor, as potentially be big problems can arise from self-diagnosis (e.g. might think you have a serious condition whereas it could just be something minor, or you could be treating yourself for the wrong thing, etc.)

*Hope that answers your question!

SOOOO much better than a doctor. Doctors are sooo highly paid, and they know nothing at all about anything. The internet however, is made up of millions of people. Therefore 1000000 vs 1? Yeah, I'd go with 1000000 too.