Measurement of Contagiousness/ Infectiousness/ Transmissibility of Infectious Agent

Abstract

R0 (basic reproduction number) is a mathematical term and pronounced
as“R naught.” Synonyms are “Basic Reproduction ratio and Basic Reproduction rate.1 R0 is a measure of the contagiousness/ infectiousness/ transmissibility of infectious agent but not a measure of the severity of an infectious disease or the rapidity of spread of infectious disease through a population. Modern mathematical biology begins with Hamer in 1906, first applied the ‘simple mass action principle’. Action principle’for a deterministic epidemic model in discrete time. Ross’s Simple Epidemic Model was published in 1911 and Generalized Epidemic Model produced by Kermack and McKendrick in 1927. These models are deterministic in character.