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A Brief History of R 0 and a Recipe for its Calculation

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Abstract

In this paper I present the genesis of R 0 in demography, ecology and epidemiology, from embryo to its current adult form. I argue on why it has taken so long for the concept to mature in epidemiology when there were ample opportunities for cross-fertilisation from demography and ecology from where it reached adulthood fifty years earlier. Today, R 0 is a more fully developed adult in epidemiology than in demography. In the final section I give an algorithm for its calculation in heterogeneous populations.

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  1. Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Utrecht, Quantitative Veterinary Epidemiology Group, Yalelaan 7, 3584 CL, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    J.A.P. Heesterbeek

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Heesterbeek, J. A Brief History of R 0 and a Recipe for its Calculation. Acta Biotheor 50, 189–204 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016599411804

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