PAGE COUNTY, Va. (WHSV) – The first-ever case of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) was confirmed in an adult, female whitetail deer in Page County.
Wildlife Veterinarian for the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, John Tracey, said CWD is a unique disease caused by a misfolded protein called a prion.
“It has an infectious protein that is spread from deer to deer or from deer to the environment then to deer,” Tracey said.
The disease was first detected in Virginia in 2009, Tracey said since then, it has spread to 18 counties in Whitetail Deer, the most recent being in Page County.
Tracey said the doe found in Page County was in a clinical stage of the disease where symptoms were present. He said deer with the disease can remain asymptomatic for years.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, some symptoms of CWD include: drastic weight loss, drooling, lethargic behavior, and drooping ears.
Tracey said they typically do not find clinical cases when they first identify cases in a county, and most cases are detected in hunter-harvested deer.
“Page County has been one of those counties that has been somewhat difficult for us to get samples from,” Tracey said.” All the counties around it, especially to the north of it have the disease.”
Tracey said hunting is critical in managing the disease to manage the deer population.
A DWR biologist will be at the Virginia Co-op extension office in Stanley to give a presentation on the disease and answer questions from the public on Oct. 6 at 6 p.m.
PAGE COUNTY, Va. (WHSV) – The first-ever case of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) was confirmed in an adult, female whitetail deer in Page County.
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