"Virus Bombs deploy a hideous genetically-engineered pathogen called the Life-Eater virus intended to exterminate all forms of life in an inhabited planet's biosphere. The pathogen, once released in aerosol form from the Virus Bombs, is extraordinarily virulent, capable of infecting every living thing, including flora, fauna and even bacteria on an entire world in only solar minutes if 100% orbital dispersal is achieved. The pathogen can penetrate even sealed environment suits, including Power Armour. The virus is designed to violently lyse living cells, essentially causing infected organisms to "melt" into a contaminated soup of organic matter. Entire forests and other plant matter can be reduced to this sludge in a short period of time, and individual animals die excruciating deaths as their bodies rapidly decay around them. The incredibly rapid breakdown of organic matter results in the steady release of great volumes of highly flammable gas, much of it composed of methane.