biostudies-literatureWang PNational Natural Science Foundation of China (CN)Yunnan Provincial Training Program of Young Academic and Technical LeaderNational Priority Development Project on Key Science InstrumentYunnan Provincial Program of Medical Science Leaderse0006352https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC5895057biostudies-literatureUnknown12(3)Plague, caused by Yersinia pestis, was classified as a reemerging infectious disease by the World Health Organization. The five human pneumonic plague cases in Yulong County in 2005 gave rise to the discovery of a Yulong plague focus in Yunnan province, China. Thereafter, continuous wild rodent plague (sylvatic plague) was identified as the main plague reservoir of this focus. In this study, the epizootics in Yulong focus were described, and three molecular typing methods, including the different region (DFR) analysis, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs), and the multiple-locus variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) analysis (MLVA) (14+12), were used for the molecular typing and source tracing of Y. pestis isolates in the Yulong plague focus. SimultaneouslPLoS neglected tropical diseasesTen years of surveillance of the Yulong plague focus in China and the molecular typing and source tracing of the isolates.PMC5895057811603542014HB0372012YQ09019706D-201652Zhang FShi LTan HGuo YLiang YYu DXu JLi WWang PDing YZhang ZCui ZSong ZfalseTen years of surveillance of the Yulong plague focus in China and the molecular typing and source tracing of the isolates.Plague, caused by Yersinia pestis, was classified as a reemerging infectious disease by the World Health Organization. The five human pneumonic plague cases in Yulong County in 2005 gave rise to the discovery of a Yulong plague focus in Yunnan province, China. Thereafter, continuous wild rodent plague (sylvatic plague) was identified as the main plague reservoir of this focus. In this study, the epizootics in Yulong focus were described, and three molecular typing methods, including the different region (DFR) analysis, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs), and the multiple-locus variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) analysis (MLVA) (14+12), were used for the molecular typing and source tracing of Y. pestis isolates in the Yulong plague focus. Simultaneousl2018-01-01T00:00:00Z2018 Mar2025-04-04T11:51:40.683Z2019-03-26T23:36:04ZS-EPMC58950572960157310.1371/journal.pntd.0006352