鼠疫是由鼠疫耶尔森菌(Yersinia pestis)引起严重危害人类健康的烈性传染病。本文介绍了鼠疫病原体——鼠疫耶尔森菌的一般特性及生物学特性， 并对国内、外鼠疫疫情现状进行总结。目前鼠疫在全球范围内的流行已进入新的活跃期，世界卫生组织将鼠疫列为近20年来重新流行的急性传染病之一。当前，全球疫区主要分布在非洲、亚洲和南美洲。我国人间鼠疫自20世纪80年代开始处于明显回升势态，近10年流行逐渐下降，但防控形势依然艰巨。

Plague is a severe infectious disease caused by Yersinia pestis (Y. pestis), which seriously endangers human health. This article introduces the general characteristics and biological characteristics of Y. pestis, the pathogen of plague, and then summarizes the status of the plague situation at home and abroad. At present, the global epidemic trend of plague has entered a new active period. The World Health Organization has listed plague as one of the acute infectious diseases that have re-emerged in the past 20 years. The current global epidemic area is mainly distributed in Africa, Asia and South America. Similarly, the human plague in China has been in a clear upward trend since the 1980s. The epidemic has gradually declined in the past 10 years, but the situation is still difficult.