WASHINGTON - Susan Rutherford needed to share her pain.

The 43-year-old Philadelphia-area mother with rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic disease that causes severe swelling and pain in the joints, turned to the Web to seek out counsel. She posted a message describing her fear on a site specializing in her condition run by HealthCentral Network, an Arlington, Va., start-up trying to transform the business of online health.

Soon, a user put up a response to her message. "This sounds terrible," the user wrote. "It is very scary to me also." Another user said it was all right to be scared. "You are young and keep wondering why and how is this terrible disease affecting you. Keep talking to others."

Rutherford said the messages comforted her. "It made me feel less alone," she said.

Intimate exchanges among people living with disease are part of an unconventional strategy HealthCentral is following in its attempt to become an online destination for health information. The company has unleashed dozens of independent Web sites about health topics - some broad like asthma and obesity, others far more narrow, such as teens living with diabetes - all with the hope of drawing people in search of help from others with similar problems.

HealthCentral hopes to attract advertising from drug companies, health-care providers and others - interests that so far have lagged other advertising segments.

The company is counting on search engines to steer customers to its content.

"In the new world, the brand isn't necessarily health in the abstract. It's whatever your need is," said Chris Schroeder, the company's chief executive. "We're trying to participate in a very targeted way."

For example, he said, a young mother with breast cancer might seek different information than a woman in her 60s whose children are grown.

Each of the HealthCentral sites features information such as symptoms and treatments. The heart of the sites is a system connecting visitors with doctors and patient bloggers - people with a particular disease who answer questions about living with it.

The strategy is different from that of other big health sites.

The leading health Web site is WebMD, an encyclopedia of health information visited by 18 million people each month. Other big players include Everyday Health and Revolution Health.

Fostering discussion is left largely to patient bloggers such as Alexandria, Va., wellness instructor Ann Bartlett, a Type 1 diabetic who became frustrated with doctors blaming each health issue she had on diabetes.

"A lot of what I get from readers are people who are similar to where I have been, stuck in a rut," she said. "Their doctor says they can do this and not do that. How can you get outside of the diabetic box?"

HealthCentral has far to go before it is an industry leader. ComScore Media Metrix, a tracker of online traffic, said HealthCentral sites get 3.2 million visitors per month, fewer than WebMD, Everyday Health, Revolution Health, Weight Watchers and about a dozen other health-themed sites. HealthCentral says it gets about 4 million visitors.

And competitors are not ceding ground. They are introducing blogs, forums and social networks. Revolution Health Executive Vice President Ron Klain said many people still want a "one-stop shop," adding: "Health is a very sensitive area and people want to know who they're getting information and advice from and the idea of a trusted brand is an important idea."