Hospital laboratories not only have the task of clinical diagnosis, but take some responsibility in the surveillance of public health [13, 14] . Therefore, laboratory informa-tion plays an important role in detection of the PHE [13, 15] . Detecting PHE related pathogen/etiology can not only confirm clinical diagnosis, but also identify newly emerging infectious diseases [15, 21] . The presence of SARS in China in 2003, and the slow response to its emergence, revealed that China's public health laboratory systems were weak [13] . This survey indicated that many of the hospitals did not report adequate laboratory diagnostic capacities. Although hospital laboratory regulations seemed relatively good, only one-third of hospital laboratories had programs for dealing with suspicious samples collecting, disposal and delivery. [23] . When PHE occurs, hospital medical staff are usually the first responders and information providers, therefore, education and training are key measures to enhance PHE response [24] . Our survey suggested that after SARS crisis, most hospitals re-evaluated the importance of medical staff training for PHE. The majority of respondents offered training programs to their related medical staff. However, the effectiveness of these training programs needs to be periodically evaluated.