  When controlling an emerging outbreak of an infectious disease it is
essential to know the key epidemiological parameters, such as the basic
reproduction number $R_0$ and the control effort required to prevent a large
outbreak. These parameters are estimated from the observed incidence of new
cases and information about the infectious contact structures of the population
in which the disease spreads. However, the relevant infectious contact
structures for new, emerging infections are often unknown or hard to obtain.
Here we show that for many common true underlying heterogeneous contact
structures, the simplification to neglect such structures and instead assume
that all contacts are made homogeneously in the whole population, results in
conservative estimates for $R_0$ and the required control effort. This means
that robust control policies can be planned during the early stages of an
outbreak, using such conservative estimates of the required control effort.
