LUNA
LUNA is a free, secure, user-friendly, web-based interface that gives CDC’s Public Health Partners an easy, effective way to track the whereabouts of a specimen-related shipment, send laboratory requests made in conjunction with a specimen submission, and access laboratory results as CDC personnel enter those results into the system. The system transmits and tracks specimen shipping information, specimen data, and related test orders and results. It also creates an electronic audit trail of this information and maintains a secure archive of the data for future research, historical reference, and investigative purposes.LUNA was designed to track a specimen from origination to receipt to results reporting to final disposition. To make this possible, the specimen must be uniquely identified, and certain specific information regarding the specimen must be entered into the tracking system. A unique, CDC-assigned number identifies each shipment and specimen, providing a specific identifier that is then used to retrieve information related to the shipment, specimen, or laboratory results.
The notification feature enhances awareness of the presence of specimen data, which can be key in recognizing a pattern that indicates an outbreak. This feature can be individually configured to provide specific types of specimen notifications to an entity, tailoring data delivery to an organization's specific needs. LUNA also provides a means of specifying the level of specimen information that should be distributed to a given entity. The underlying architecture ensures that any organization that the CDC recognizes as having a role in responding to an event can gain access to the specimen data necessary to guide that response.