How to manage plagues?
Agreed - I don't like this event either. It's not balanced and feels much too powerful. It was not part of the original game. It was added by a volunteer at some point.
I would vote to fix it by sending a pull request changing the number. Personally I'd remove the event entirely, but if the event only cost 1 medicine, that would at least be more balanced.
edit: Looks like the scenes are here:
https://github.com/doublespeakgames/adarkroom/blob/9e3874bc8ee1dffe7625015ab24b5131588a7251/script/events/outside.js#L94
'Sickness' and 'Plague'.
If you have more than 10 villagers, it takes 1 medicine to cure, or kills up to half your villagers. If you have more than 50 villagers, it takes 5 medicine to cure, or kills up to 90. ouch. Even if you do pay 5 medicine, it still kills 3-7.
I'd vote to lower the price to 1 in both cases, and/or delete 'Plague' entirely.