Abstract: Objective To evaluate the efficacy of national disease reporting information system in surveillance of varicella outbreak. Methods The case number of varicella in outbreaks in Zhabei from 2005 to 2010 collected from specialized varicella reporting system was used to analyze the network direct reporting rate, completeness rate and surveillance sensitivity of the national disease reporting information system. Results A total of 902 cases in 112 varicella outbreaks were reported through specialized varicella reporting system, 428 (47.45%) were reported directly through national system, including 71 cases (7.87%) reported by district CDC after verification, only 357 (39.58%) were reported by hospitals. The case number directly reported through national system was positive correlated with that through specialized reporting system (r=0.951,P=0.004). The network direct reporting rate increased over year (2trend=20.178,P=0.000). Among the cases reported by hospitals, 73 were reported with some important information missed. The completeness of reporting and timeliness of reporting (within 4 days of onset) in grade Ⅲ hospitals were all inferior than those in grade Ⅰ and Ⅱ hospitals. Conclusion The improvement of the efficacy of varicella reporting through national disease reporting information system would facilitate the control of varicella outbreak.