Abstract: ObjectiveTo analyze the epidemiological characteristics of public health emergencies reported by the direct network from 2004 to 2008 in Nanyang, provide scientific basis for effective prevention and control of public health emergencies. MethodsDescriptive epidemiological analysis was performed by using Excel on the data of reported public health emergencies in Nanyang during this period, which were collected from national public health emergencies reporting information system. ResultsA total of 41 public health emergencies were reported in Nanyang from 2004 to 2008, among them 23 were common events, 18 were not graded. The number of public health emergency increased from 2004 to 2006, then declined. A total of 1100 disease cases were reported with 18 deaths. Forty public health emergencies (97.56%) were communicable disease epidemics, in which 24 were class B communicable disease epidemics (60.00%). More public health emergencies occurred during April-June and during August- October; 34 public health emergencies occurred in rural area (82.93%), and the public health emergencies occurred in schools and kindergartens accounted for 56.10%. ConclusionThe surveillance, prevention and control of public health emergencies in high incidence season and in high risk population should be conducted, and the reporting of public health emergencies should be improved to increase the quality of network direct reporting in Nanyang.