The Yersinia pestis bacterium that is behind the plague is found mainly in rodents, particularly rats, and in the fleas that feed on them, the U.S. National Institutes of Health website says.

CNN: London rail excavation unearths suspected 'plague pit'

The Yersinia pestis bacteria that is behind the plague is found mainly in rodents, particularly rats, and in the fleas that feed on them, the U.S. National Institutes of Health website says.

CNN: London rail excavation unearths suspected 'plague pit'

But the problems posed by rats are nothing compared with the mosquito plague.

ECONOMIST: King Rat

In between came Camus's two best-known works, "The Stranger" (1942), in which the collaborating sun, sea and sand play a deadly role, and "The Plague" (1947), a loose allegory of occupation (by rats) set in Oran, Algeria's second city.

WSJ: Book Review: Algerian Chronicles