This is plausible. And the only case I might see of it being “real.” However, its origins are as likely to be the DOD as Beijing. More than likely it was a psyop acted out in concert by the UN members and their serf states. So, the conflicting stories about what it did, how it spread, its origins, and its cures were intentional for the purpose of keeping the populace disoriented and all challenges to the “official” version off-kilter, since the “official” version was ever-changing and contradictory, but always with an “explanation” due to “the experts might disagree on some details, but they all agree it is real and it is bad.”