KDA to exercise foreign animal disease response

The Kansas Department of Agriculture will lead an emergency preparedness exercise, named Rampart, Dec. 17 to 20 in Manhattan, Kansas, to practice the state’s response plan to a foreign animal disease event.  

The four-day functional exercise, which will be based out of KDA headquarters in Manhattan, will enable KDA and its partners in other state agencies, federal and local government, industry, university and 16 other states to practice the state’s foreign animal disease response plan. More than 200 individuals will participate in the Rampart exercise, which will be based on a fictional scenario involving the confirmation of foot-and-mouth disease in the United States. 

In addition to KDA, which will operate as the Incident Command Post for the exercise, the Kansas Division of Emergency Management and multiple Kansas counties will activate emergency operations centers as part of the Rampart exercise.

Foot-and-mouth disease was last identified in the United States in 1929. FMD is a highly contagious disease of cattle, sheep, swine, goats, deer and other cloven-hooved animals. It is not a human food safety concern nor a public health threat. It is a primary concern for animal health officials because it could have potentially devastating economic consequences due to disrupted trade and lost investor confidence.

The exercise has been partially funded with a grant provided by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. 

Media wishing to monitor the exercise should contact KDA director of communications Heather Lansdowne at [email protected] or 785-564-6706 for more information.