Plot device
The engineered contagion
A device in which a disease, plague, or biological agent drives the plot toward collapse, quarantine, or survival.
The engineered contagion in fiction: 4 works
An extraterrestrial microbe threatens a lethal outbreak the scientists race to contain.
A linguistic-neural virus that infects both minds and computers drives the plot.
An engineered virus that wiped out most of humanity drives the mission.
A fungal infection has collapsed civilization, the series' driving catastrophe.