LURAY, Va. — Page County recorded its first confirmed case of chronic wasting disease in a white-tailed deer during the past year, according to surveillance results released by the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR).
The infected deer was an adult female that was reported after exhibiting symptoms consistent with late-stage chronic wasting disease, according to the department.
Page County is among 12 Virginia counties included in the state’s second Disease Management Area, along with Arlington, Culpeper, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Madison, Orange, Prince William, Rappahannock and Rockingham counties.
The department tested 2,883 white-tailed deer from the Disease Management Area over the past year, with 32 testing positive for chronic wasting disease.
Loudoun County recorded 11 positive cases, followed by Fauquier County with seven; Madison and Rappahannock counties with four each; Culpeper County with three; Fairfax County with two; and Page County with one.
Statewide, the DWR tested more than 7,800 deer and confirmed 126 cases of chronic wasting disease.
The largest number of positive cases came from the Disease Management Area that includes Clarke, Frederick, Shenandoah and Warren counties. Of 562 deer sampled there since July 2025, 83 tested positive.
Frederick County accounted for 60 of those cases, followed by Clarke County with 10, Shenandoah County with nine and Warren County with four.
Another Disease Management Area, encompassing Carroll, Floyd, Franklin, Montgomery, Patrick, Pulaski, Roanoke and Wythe counties, had 11 positive cases among 2,158 deer tested. Seven were detected in Floyd County, two in Montgomery County and one each in Pulaski and Roanoke counties.
No new cases were detected among 231 deer tested in the Disease Management Area encompassing Bland, Smyth and Tazewell counties.
An additional 2,001 deer were tested throughout areas of Virginia outside the state’s four Disease Management Areas, with no additional positive cases confirmed.
The DWR credited hunters, commercial deer processors and taxidermists with assisting in the state’s chronic wasting disease surveillance program. Those partnerships helped the department collect more than 5,000 samples during the past season.
Chronic wasting disease has been detected in 37 states and four Canadian provinces. Since Virginia’s first detection in 2009, 488 deer in 18 counties have tested positive for the disease.
Chronic wasting disease is an incurable, progressive neurological disease affecting deer, elk and moose that ultimately results in death. It is caused by an abnormal protein known as a “prion” and can spread through the urine, feces and saliva of infected animals.
Symptoms can include staggering, abnormal posture, a lowered head, drooling, confusion and significant weight loss. However, symptoms may not appear for 16 months to two years after infection.
There is currently no evidence that chronic wasting disease can be naturally transmitted to humans, pets or livestock. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that hunters have deer harvested in areas where chronic wasting disease is known to occur tested and not eat meat from an animal that tests positive.
Additional information, including surveillance data, regulations and maps of Virginia’s Disease Management Areas, is available through the DWR.
A DWR media statement noted it does not expect changes to the boundaries of the four Disease Management Areas for the 2026-27 deer hunting season.
For DWR best practices, hunting and safety information, click HERE.