LARAMIE (AP) - Another 155 deer and elk tested positive for chronic wasting disease as sampling wraps up from this fall's hunting season.

Of the new cases, 10 were found in areas the disease had not been detected before, including five hunt areas in Carbon County, wildlife disease specialist Hank Edwards said.

The deer and elk were among 6,134 animals tested for the fatal brain malady by the State Veterinary Lab in Laramie. Testing was more than 99 percent complete as of this week, Edwards said.

The new cases were not a surprise, said Edwards, who added "they kind of fill in the blanks" between areas the disease already existed.

Wasting disease is currently found in 0.5 to 2 percent of the state's elk population and 1 to 30 percent of its deer, depending on where they live, Edwards said.

Hunters were asked this fall to submit samples for testing at check stations, meat processing plants and taxidermist shops around Wyoming. The state sent letters to hunters whose animals test positive.

Chronic wasting disease, endemic to southeast Wyoming and northeast Colorado, attacks the brains of infected animals, causing them to display abnormal behavior and eventually become emaciated and die. There is no evidence that the disease can harm people.

Researchers have yet to discover how it is spread.

The malady has been found in wild deer or elk in Wyoming, Colorado, Illinois, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah and Wisconsin. It has also been found in captive herds in several other states.