JACKSON — A surge of Chronic Wasting Disease positive detections from Marshall and Benton County were reported late Tuesday evening. North Mississippi is one of the hot spots of the 100 percent, always fatal infectious prion disease in deer and could offer a glimpse of what happens when the disease becomes more and more prevalent.

The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks reported five new CWD positives were detected in Benton County and six were detected in Marshall County Tuesday bringing the positives for this season to 19. Samples are starting to flow in as modern gun season is underway. The more deer harvested the more samples come in. 

MDWFP reports there have been 2,636 samples submitted for Chronic Wasting Disease testing in FY2025 with four positive detections. The agency’s fiscal year starts on July 1 and runs until June 30th. Hunter participation in surveillance efforts for Chronic Wasting Disease are vital in early detection in new areas and helping the agency gauge prevalence in hotspots. 

Chronic Wasting Disease is a 100 percent always fatal disease in deer caused by an infectious prion in the Cervidae family. Prions are mis-folded proteins. CWD prions are often spread by infected deer through bodily fluids. 

These prions can be shed into the environment which causes indirect transmission of CWD to healthy deer. Healthy deer can also contract CWD by direct contact with CWD positive deer. Research has shown CWD can even spread to fawns, infant deer, before they are born through placental tissue in an infected doe’s womb. Young bucks are by far the most susceptible to CWD due to their roaming nature and bigger home ranges.

Since 2018, Benton County has had 190 deer test positive for CWD followed closely by Marshall County at 111 positive deer. Alcorn County has had 8 deer test positive, Warren County has had 7, Issaquena has had 3 test positive and DeSotto County has had 2 test positive. 

Claiborne, Tunica, Harrison, Tishimingo, Tallahatchie, Tippah, Tate, Panola, Pontotoc and Lafayette Counties all have had one positive detected. Tate County’s positive came from a permitted deer enclosure and one of Benton County’s positives was from a deer enclosure. 

More samples are needed to find CWD in Mississippi and fight against the disease and to protect the resource. Lincoln County hunters have turned in 759 samples over the years but more is needed. Of the 759 samples, 17 of them were turned in over the last couple of weeks. CWD’s presence in Claiborne County should be a wakeup call for hunters in southwest Mississippi to get their deer tested. 

MDWFP has a list of self-serve 24/7 sample drop-off coolers and a list of participating taxidermists on their website. 

Since 2018, Mississippi’s CWD positive detections total 336.