Fig 5. R₀ estimates from the endemic equilibrium are more robust.

Estimating R₀ from the endemic equilibrium distribution of susceptibles ($R_0^{*}$) requires no assumptions about underlying vector survival rates and proves more robust than estimates based on the initial growth rate ($R_0^{\lambda }$), especially when using longitudinal data (compare single time point with 10 year average). Note that corrected values of $R_0^{\lambda }$, ${\widehat{R}}_0^{\lambda }$, can yield good estimates but are still subject to significant variations around the mean. Results are based on 100 model runs for each scenario; the inserted boxplots indicate the median and interquartile ranges, and the dashed line denotes the theoretical R₀ value.