BATON ROUGE -- Data from the Louisiana Department of Health shows that STI cases have been on the rise, especially across the Baton Rouge area.

According to 2023 data, Baton Rouge and surrounding parishes saw more than 2,200 new gonorrhea diagnoses in 2023 and over 6,300 for chlamydia.

"In addition, what I find more alarming is over 200 cases of syphilis. That's a concern because we had eradicated syphilis in this region for a long time, " Community advocate Eugene Collins said.

The data also shows that the region had 57 pregnant mothers diagnosed with syphilis in 2023, and 21 of them passed it on to their babies. There were also three infant deaths linked to congenital syphilis, which occurs when syphilis is transmitted from an untreated mother to her baby.

Collins says that right now

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