NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — The Norfolk Department of Public Health is warning the community about a rise in syphilis. The concern is being met with a campaign to raise awareness for testing and treating the sexually transmitted infection.

“The thing about syphilis is, even though it had been around for centuries, it actually dropped dramatically in the 1940s and 50s when penicillin came on the market,” explained Dr. Susan Girois, the Health Director for the Norfolk Department of Public Health. “And penicillin can actually treat syphilis. It can treat it and cure it.”

Experts said the problem is a lack of testing. There are some general symptoms someone may have, but they could be mistaken for a lengthy list of other illnesses. If left untreated, syphilis progresses into three stages.

“You have primary syphilis, which usually has a sore, mainly on the genitals, sometimes somewhere else, which is not very painful. In fact, it’s painless,” explained Dr. Girois. “The secondary syphilis phase comes a couple weeks later. And both of these stages are very, very infectious. secondary usually has muscle aches and pains, sometimes a fever.”

Dr. Girois said the latent and last phase holds no symptoms. This means it can go decades undetected. If left untreated, it can progress into dementia, blindness and even impact your heart health.

Another issue that arises if someone doesn’t get treated, is if a woman positive for syphilis becomes pregnant. If a positive patient gives birth to a baby without receiving treatment before the third trimester, she risks passing the STI along to her baby.

“We had 36 babies born with syphilis in Virginia. That’s newborn syphilis. Now, every one of those was preventable. And, you know, half of those were in this region here. So we know we have some system level problems.”

Dr. Girois said going to get tested could truly change the directory of not just the patients life, but lives of people they love.

“Why not? You have nothing to lose. If you do find it, then you can get treated right away and cured. if you don’t have it, well, then you don’t have it. And you can go along your way,” said Dr. Girois.

The “Stop Syphilis” campaign kicked off Tuesday at 3 p.m. at Old Dominion University. The event ended at 5 p.m. 10 On Your Side will provide updates when the next event date becomes available.