Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

meme plague
     
         The spread of a successful but pernicious {meme},
        especially one that parasitises the victims into giving their
        all to propagate it.  Astrology, BASIC, and the other guy's
        religion are often considered to be examples.  This usage is
        given point by the historical fact that "joiner" ideologies
        like Naziism or various forms of millennarian Christianity
        have exhibited plague-like cycles of exponential growth
        followed by collapses to small reservoir populations.
     
        [{Jargon File}]
     
        (1996-08-11)