How you can easily make virus observations

Nature Talk
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As it turns out, earlier this very month, someone did “observe” dengue: Dengue virus

As of a couple months ago, that one is here, too: Roseola (Human betaherpesvirus seven)

These are still available, if anyone wants to go looking.

Also, despite the plethora of observations of SARS-CoV-2, there are still zero observations of SARS-CoV-1, a.k.a. just plain ol’ SARS. I’m sure that it hasn’t disappeared from the world. Nor are there any of MERS-CoV. Did you know that there were 45 cases of MERS in 2020, when all anyone could talk about was SARS-CoV-2?

The most sureprising thing is that the one Dengue observation is the only observation of any Flavivirus; there is no taxon for West Nile virus. I would have thought West Nile virus would be one of the easiest viruses to observe: find a dead crow, photograph it, then wait for its test results to come back from your local mosquito district.

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I notice there are a bunch of Research Grade observations of SARS-Cov-2 based on photos of positive home-test results. That’s one way to add a new species to your iNat lifer list but that’s a taxon I’d prefer not to “observe” and (so far) have managed to avoid.

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Any Rickettsia rickettsii?? I had rocky mountain spotted fever, that would be a way to be a first ID xD
Also have had Babesia microti. (fking ticks).

Edit: Nope. Guess I could add that one xD but that involves digging out medical records which I don’t super care to bother with. Think it’s worth it? Lol And B. microti isn’t even in the system.

Edit two; whoops these are bacteria & parasite, not viruses…but it still is kinda the gist of the thread.

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you could also just add it without a photo as a casual observation.

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