State and federal officials this weekend announced bird flu had been confirmed i a commercial flock of 240-thousand layer hens in O’Brien County. Governor Kim Reynolds has recommended an additional half a million dollars in state spending to support development of vaccines for bird flu and other foreign animal diseases. The current outbreak of avian influenza began three years ago and the first human case of bird flu in the United States was identified in April of last year. In December, state officials reported the first human case in Iowa, in a person who worked in a commercial poultry operation.