[Boats]

I had to look these two issues up for a better understanding or difference:

Question: What is the difference between a (A) Pestilence and (B) Plague?

As nouns the difference between pestilence and plague;

A. Is that Pestilence is any epidemic disease that is highly contagious, infectious, virulent and devastating while;

The word "pestilence" comes from "pestis," the Latin word for "plague." During the period of 1348-1350, the "Black Death" was responsible for the deaths of at least 1/3 the population of Europe. Because the plague was responsible for so many deaths, the plague and death have long been linked in literature. The 14th- century English poet Geoffrey Chaucer spoke of "pestilence" in "The Pardoner's Tale": "Ther cam a privee theef men clepeth Deeth, / That in this contree al the peple sleeth, / And with his spere he smoot his herte atwo, / And wente his wey withouten wordes mo. / He hath a thousand slayn this pestilence."

B. "La Peste" (The Plague), a novel by the Nobel Prize-winning 20th- century French writer Albert Camus, is set in the Algerian city of Oran overrun by a deadly epidemic of the plague.

b1. Whereas a Plague is the bubonic (type) plague, the pestilent disease caused by the virulent bacterium ''yersinia pestis.

It's hard to believe, but the Black Death isn't just one for the history books or far-flung places. It's shown up recently in New Mexico, California, and Colorado, though it's still rare. Antibiotics can take care of it, but it can be life-threatening if it's not treated early enough. It's carried by rodents, like squirrels and mice, and the fleas that live on them.
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The plague was a highly contagious, infectious, virulent, and devastating disease due to bacteria called Yersinia pestis which mainly infects rats and other rodents that serve as the prime reservoir for the bacteria. Fleas function as the prime vectors carrying the bacteria from one species to another. The fleas bite the rodents infected with Y. pestis and then they bite people and so transmit the disease to them.

Transmission of the plague to people can also occur from eating infected animals such as squirrels (for example, in the southeastern U.S.) Once someone has the plague, they can transmit it to another person via aerosol droplets.

b2. Does plague still exist?

Without treatment, plague results in the death of 30% to 90% of those infected. Death, if it occurs, is typically within ten days. With treatment the risk of death is around 10%. Globally between 2010 and 2015 there were 3248 documented cases, which resulted in 584 deaths.

"La Peste" (The Plague), a novel by the Nobel Prize-winning 20th- century French writer Albert Camus, is set in the Algerian city of Oran overrun by a deadly epidemic of the plague.