BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Louisiana is leading the country in one STI, and is high in several others, according to data from the CDC.

“It’s easier and a lot less costly to prevent disease than it is to treat,” David Ourso, Open Health Care Clinic Family Nurse Practitioner, said.

Ourso treats and educates patients with STDs or STIs at the Open Health Care Clinic in Baton Rouge.

“A lot of times, patients will come in, they don’t have symptoms , but they’re not getting regularly tested, nor are we using our safe sex practices,” Ourso said.

According to the CDC, in 2023, Louisiana was #1 in chlamydia, #2 in gonorrhea, #7 in congenital syphilis, and #8 in primary and secondary syphilis.

These numbers were not always this high. A report from the Louisiana Department of Health five years a

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