ALBANY - State conservation officials reported Tuesday that additional deer in upstate New York were found infected with an insect-borne virus that had not been detected in New York state before this year.

Tests showed that deer found dead in October south of Albany died of epizootic hemorrhagic disease, or EHD. The state Department of Environmental Conservation said Tuesday that additional cases have now been confirmed in Albany, Rensselaer and Niagara counties. EHD killed deer in Selkirk, Castleton and Youngstown, the agency said.

The disease - which doesn't pose a known threat to human health - causes hemorrhaging and has mostly afflicted white-tailed deer in the Southeast, the DEC said.

It was reported in mid-Atlantic states this summer, and the deer found in Voorheesville were the first known to have died from it in New York.

The disease is transmitted by certain types of biting flies in late summer and fall, and subsides as weather turns cold and the flies die.

Recent frosts throughout New York are expected to help prevent any large-scale outbreak this year. The DEC is advising hunters not handle or eat any deer that appear sick, act strangely, or are found dead and contact the agency.

There also have been EHD outbreaks reported in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Virginia, and West Virginia.

In states where the disease has been detected, it has not had a significant negative impact on long-term health of the deer herd, infecting only localized pockets of animals within a geographic area, the DEC said.