diff --git a/plugins/virtualenvwrapper/virtualenvwrapper.plugin.zsh b/plugins/virtualenvwrapper/virtualenvwrapper.plugin.zsh
index 0ed2565b4..bbfe10bcf 100644
--- a/plugins/virtualenvwrapper/virtualenvwrapper.plugin.zsh
+++ b/plugins/virtualenvwrapper/virtualenvwrapper.plugin.zsh
@@ -19,7 +19,10 @@ if [[ -f "$wrapsource" ]]; then
             # Activate the environment only if it is not already active
             if [[ "$VIRTUAL_ENV" != "$WORKON_HOME/$ENV_NAME" ]]; then
                 if [[ -e "$WORKON_HOME/$ENV_NAME/bin/activate" ]]; then
-                    workon "$ENV_NAME" && export CD_VIRTUAL_ENV="$ENV_NAME"
+                        if [[ -z ${CD_VIRTUAL_ENV} ]]; then
+                                export CD_VIRTUAL_ENV="$ENV_NAME"
+                                workon "$ENV_NAME" || unset CD_VIRTUAL_ENV
+                        fi
                 fi
             fi
         elif [ $CD_VIRTUAL_ENV ]; then