pestiferous vs virulent

pestiferous

adj
  • containing organisms that cause contagious diseases 

  • annoying, vexatious 

virulent

adj
  • Of a disease or disease-causing agent: malignant, able to cause damage to the host. 

  • Of a pathogen: replicating within its host cell, then immediately causing it to undergo lysis. 

  • Extremely hostile or malicious; intensely acrimonious. 

  • Of animals, plants, or substances: extremely venomous or poisonous. 

How often have the words pestiferous and virulent occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )