A very ironic correlation of life and plague is made by one of Rieux patients for whom plague and life have nearly the same meaning. Plague epidemic is a very talented mystification made by Camus in order to make analogies with real life, where illnesses, suffering and death contribute to the fate of every individual and are integrated into our life. In both cases person loses humanism which plays a fundamental role in resisting cruelty and indifference. Plague and death can not be either cured by physicians or cognized and explained by Catholic priests. Nobody can give explanation to the reasons of plague as it is as absurd as existence of Oran's townsmen at the very beginning of the novel. The death of the innocent child only deepens the dilemma as neither father Paneloux nor doctor Rieux are able to find any logical explanation to the question why plague invaded the town. Camus makes us to understand that plague in Oran can be defeated only by mutual effort, by solidarity of citizens and by ability to enjoy life. Neither God nor medicine can help to get rid of it: doctors are helpless and the death of the innocent child makes doubt in God's will even very religious people such as father Paneloux. It's very symbolic that among the survivors there were a lot of cynic, vicious people while a lot of others who were "innocent" and "unspoiled" died. Camus shows that in order...

Those who try to avoid epidemic and don't pay attention to spread of plague are the first to die as they make a very terrible sin against themselves and against others: they let the plague to spread and kill others. It's the main reason why none of them deserves mercy according to Camus ethics.
Camus makes us to understand that the only way out of such catastrophe is humanism and solidarity. Evil is unable to spread in society where there is no background for its existence. It's a well-known fact that Plague is individual protest of the writer against the terror of fascism and it's very symbolic because fascism was often called a "brown plague" due to the color of Vermacht soldier's uniform. Camus is right that the raise of fascism in Germany is mainly the fault of the whole European and world community which did nothing in order to prevent seeds of evil from growth and didn't react on the first territorial ambitions of Fascist Germany. Camus also shows that a single hero can not stop the plague: father Paneloux fails to explain its origins according to Bible canons, doctor Rieux is physically unable to help every infected person. Only mutual desire of citizens to live, their unity and solidarity in struggle against plague makes the epidemic disappear.