Scenario-specific parameters of the simulations.

The parameters are based on archival historical data and colonial medicine articles ([48], [66], [70], [104]; Text S1; Text S2).
aA genital ulcer frequency of 5% in femmes libres in 1929 is supported by two different venereal control surveys made in 1930 and 1932, involving 953 and 1,202 women (mostly femmes libres) respectively, which showed this frequency to be 4.7% in 1930 and 4.6% in 1932 [48]. The venereal situation was probably even worse in the decade preceding 1929–32 [48], [104], and reports from the years around 1910 [67]–[69] suggest incidences higher than in the period 1929–32 (see Text S1).