Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal neurological disease of deer, elk, and moose. The disease is caused by an abnormal infectious protein called a prion. Prions are transmitted to uninfected deer directly through saliva, feces, and urine shed by infected deer and indirectly as a result of soil contaminated with prions. The potential impacts of CWD to the white-tailed deer populations of Virginia are a serious concern, though the disease has not been shown to pose a health risk to humans or domestic animals. The DWR leads Virginia’s CWD surveillance and management efforts  and relies on assistance from hunters, taxidermists, processors, other agencies, and diverse constituent groups to implement surveillance and management strategies.

CWD was first detected in West Virginia in 2005, Virginia in 2009, Maryland in 2010, and Pennsylvania in 2012.  In Virginia, CWD has been confirmed in Fauquier, Floyd, Frederick, Clarke, Culpeper, Loudoun, Madison, Montgomery, Rappahannock, Shenandoah, and Warren counties.  A summary of the DWR’s 2021–2022 deer hunting season CWD surveillance in the Disease Management Areas (DMA) can be found below (as of February 28, 2022).  Effective immediately, as a result of the 2021 CWD detection in Floyd County, Carroll County is now included in DMA3.

DMA	Counties in DMA	Total Deer Tested for CWD	CWD Detections	Location of Detections
1	Clarke, Frederick, Shenandoah, Warren	649	19	Frederick (17)          Clarke (1)              Shenandoah (1)
2	Culpeper, Fauquier, Loudoun, Madison, Orange, Page, Rappahannock	1,930	4	Culpeper (1)         Fauquier (2)       Loudoun (1)
3	Floyd, Montgomery, Pulaski	1,259	2	Floyd (1)     Montgomery (1)