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By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- The state is better prepared to respond to public health emergencies such as weather disasters and anthrax scares than it was in 2002, according to a new federal report.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday released ''Public Health Preparedness: Mobilizing State by State,'' the first of an expected annual report on how ready states are to respond to health effects from ice storms, hurricanes or pandemic influenza.

CDC Director Julie Gerberding said in a conference call that ''there is no gold standard for preparedness. ... We've had to invent the airplane while we were flying it'' to come up with a way to measure the states' efforts.

The report examined how effectively states have used the federal money since 2002 to prepare for what the CDC calls ''emerging health threats.''

The report said Kansas, which received $63 million, has done well in disease detection and is now able to investigate urgent disease reports around the clock.

The report said the public health laboratories are in good shape, but CDC information technology standards won't be met until electronic lab reporting is added in late summer.

Kansas Department of Health and Environment spokesman Joe Blubaugh said a new electronic reporting system was launched in December but hasn't been fully implemented.

The report also said that between September 2006 and February 2007, Kansas hadn't activated its public health emergency operations center or had a drill or exercise to test communications.

Blubaugh said the operations center was activated in May for a drill and again for the Greensburg tornado, southeast Kansas flooding and December 2007 ice storms, so ''we've had plenty of experience.''