plague

Noun

• an annoyance
  • those children are a damn plague
    

• any large scale calamity (especially when thought to be sent by God)

• a swarm of insects that attack plants
  • a plague of grasshoppers
    

• any epidemic disease with a high death rate

• a serious (sometimes fatal) infection of rodents caused by Yersinia pestis and accidentally transmitted to humans by the bite of a flea that has bitten an infected animal

Verb

• annoy continually or chronically
  • He is known to harry his staff when he is overworked
    
  • This man harasses his female co-workers
    

• cause to suffer a blight
  • Too much rain may blight the garden with mold
    

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  infestation , pestilence , pest , pestis , blight