ALBANY - New York officials say crows turning up dead across the state - sometimes in large groups - are being killed by a virus.

Hundreds have died this winter from infection with a strain of avian reovirus that attacks their intestinal systems. The birds have been found in Albany, Dutchess, Jefferson, Montgomery, Orange and Steuben counties. The largest die-off was a group of 100 in Poughkeepsie.

Ward Stone, the state's wildlife pathologist, says that unlike West Nile virus, the reovirus isn't likely to spread to humans, though state health department tests were still pending Thursday.

Strains of the virus have been identified in various birds in the U.S. and Canada over the past decade. Stone says small numbers of New York crows died from infection in recent years.