In May 2011, the European Commission asked ECDC to estimate the change in total exposure risk to hepatitis B (HBV), hepatitis C (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) during reproductive cell handling and storage for secondary parties, if the current scheme of testing at each cell donation would change to testing partner donors of reproductive cells once or twice a year.

Based on initial findings, ECDC developed a model for the estimation of the residual risk of infection using data supplied by the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.