The R0 Approach to Epidemic-non-Epidemic Phases Revisited

Abstract

In this work, we revisit the basic reproduction rate ${\mathcal{R}}_0$ definition for analysis of epidemic-non-epidemic phases describing the dynamics of the discrete stochastic version of the epidemic $SIR$ model based on the Master Equation formalism. One shows that it is a very precise and efficient way to determine the epidemic threshold; using its most primitive concept, we can find exact results.

Submitted to PRL