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CWD in Virginia
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 at this point. 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. One important management strategy is to prevent artificially concentrating deer at point sources like feeding sites. As such, it is illegal to feed deer in Virginia for any reason year-round in all counties within 25 miles of a known CWD-positive deer.
Regionally, 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 Carroll, Clarke, Culpeper, Fairfax, Fauquier, Floyd, Frederick, Loudoun, Madison, Montgomery, Prince William, Pulaski, Rappahannock, Roanoke, Shenandoah, Tazewell, and Warren counties. A summary of the DWR’s 2024-2025 deer hunting season CWD surveillance in the Disease Management Areas (DMAs) can be found below (as of April 2025). In total, 8801 deer were tested and 109 CWD positive detections were found. No detections were made outside of a DMA.
New for 2025–2026: Rockingham County has been added to DMA2 as a result of positive CWD detections in West Virginia within 10 miles of the border.
CWD FAQs 2024-2025
| DMA | Counties in DMA 2024-2025 | Total Deer Tested for CWD | CWD Detections | Location of Detections |
| 1 | Clarke, Frederick, Shenandoah, Warren | 611 | 79 | Clarke (9)
Frederick (53) Shenandoah (12) Warren (5) |
| 2 | Arlington, Culpeper, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Madison, Orange, Page, Prince William, Rappahannock | 2959 | 17 | Culpeper (2)
Fauquier (3) Loudoun (7) Madison (3) Prince William* (1) Rappahannock (1) |
| 3 | Carroll, Floyd, Franklin, Montgomery, Patrick, Pulaski, Roanoke, Wythe | 2123 | 13 | Floyd (5)
Montgomery (7) Roanoke* (1) |
| 4 | Bland, Smyth, Tazewell | 146 | 0 | |
| Non-DMA Statewide | 2262 | 0 |
* Denotes first positive detection in the county
