While the world is in the grips of the Coronavirus out of China, another virus has been found that possesses genetic material never before seen by scientists. This is highly unusual because most of the time scientists can find genes they’ve seen somewhere before, even if the virus itself is new.
But don’t worry; this virus only affects amoebas.
The virus was found in a lagoon in Brazil, by researchers looking for special viruses. When they sequenced its genome, they found 68 genes were completely unknown. They did discover 6 of its genes had similarities to other known genetic material.
This is an easy one to turn into a story. Small, localized epidemic in Brazil, where natives struggle to save their loved ones. A survival story, hidden from the rest of the world because of their remote location. The protagonist is targeted because he isn’t infected, and the locals believe he has the cure. He survives by going into the woods and making a Rambo-style series of traps and eventually escapes. But, at the end of book one, he shows the telltale signs of having contracted the disease, and in book two he has to stay alive against the healthy people in a larger village trying to hunt him down.
The third could be he is saved by an antidote provided a larger country, then he’s used as a mercenary without ties to any government. The fourth could have him infiltrate an infected country, and the fifth could have him discover the country which provided the antidote actually created and sent out the virus, so he goes back for revenge. Rambo meets bio-warfare.
