HOUMA -- Louisiana has the country’s highest rate of syphilis, according to a report released by the state Department of Health and Hospitals.

There were 347 cases reported in 2006, a 123 percent increase from rates reported just five years ago.

The state didn’t fare much better in other areas. Louisiana ranks second in rates of gonorrhea infections, and came in 13th for chlamydia infections.

That latter represents a drop from last year’s third-place finish, though Lisa Longfellow, STD program manager with the state health department, said she is concerned that is only because cases aren’t always reported. She points to a significant drop after hurricanes Katrina and Rita as evidence.

As for why Louisiana’s overall numbers are high, Longfellow says that’s not clear.

"There could be a million reasons why," she said.

Last year, Terrebonne ranked 32nd with just two reported cases of syphilis. Lafourche, with five cases, was 18th out of the state’s 64 parishes.

Syphilis is a disease that can make transition of the HIV virus between sexual partners about two to five times easier. Although syphilis rates declined dramatically in the U.S. between 1990 and 2000 -- by almost 90 percent -- the numbers have been on the rise since 2002.

In its early stages, syphilis is easy to cure. A single injection of penicillin or another antibiotic will cure a person who has had syphilis for less than a year. Additional doses are needed to treat someone who has had syphilis longer than that.

All positive tests for gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis are required by law to be reported to the state health department. That allows the state to better track outbreaks and monitor STD levels, said Longfellow.

"It helps us to plan where we should allocate our resources," she added.

Chlamydia, the most commonly reported sexually transmitted disease in the nation, is caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis.

Though sometimes without symptoms, chlamydia infections can damage a woman’s reproductive organs by causing pelvic inflammatory disease. That can lead to infertility, ectopic pregnancy and chronic pelvic pain. It can also increase a sufferer’s chances of being infected with HIV.

In addition, pregnant women infected with chlamydia can pass the infection to their babies during delivery, potentially resulting in several illnesses, including pneumonia.

Underreporting of chlamydia is a huge problem because the disease often lacks symptoms, and people do not seek testing, experts said. An estimated 2.8 million Americans are infected with chlamydia each year.

Luckily, once it is detected, chlamydia can also be easily treated and cured with antibiotics.

In 2006, about 18,787 chlamydia infections were reported to the Louisiana STD Control Program, an increase of 7.6 percent from 2005.

Terrebonne ranked 41st in the state, with just 349 reported cases. Lafourche fared slightly better, coming in at 46th with 284 cases.

Gonorrhea is another commonly contracted STD, caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae, a bacteria that can also infect your mouth, throat, eyes and anus. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that more than 700,000 persons in the U.S. get new gonorrheal infections each year.

But experts say only about half of these infections are actually reported to the CDC.

Several antibiotics can successfully cure gonorrhea, though drug-resistant strains of gonorrhea are increasing in many areas of the world, including the U.S., and successful treatment of gonorrhea is becoming more difficult.

In 2006, 11,340 cases of gonorrhea were reported in Louisiana, an increase of 17.3 percent in 2006.

Terrebonne ranked 42nd in the state with 180 cases last year, and Lafourche 31st with 178.

The best way to stay free of sexually transmitted diseases, Longfellow said, is to follow your ABCs: "Abstinence, monogamy between partners and condoms."

But the state has help if you believe you may have been exposed to an STD and need treatment.

Parish health units offer testing and treatment for just $10, "but we don’t turn anyone away for inability to pay," Longfellow said.

You can find these services at:

· Lafourche Parish Health Unit, 2535 Veterans Blvd., Thibodaux, Phone: 447-0921.

· Terrebonne Parish Health Unit, 600 Polk St., Houma, Phone: 857-3601.

· Assumption Parish Health Unit, 158 La. 1008, Napoleonville, Phone: 369-6031.

The state also asks that you tell your partner or bring them in with you when seeking treatment.

"We don’t have much prevention, but we counsel people who come in and ask them to send in their partner," said Longfellow.

Sometimes people don’t want to talk about the often embarrassing or delicate issue of sexually transmitted diseases, and for that reason, the state is going online.

With the Web site www.inspot.org, you can anonymously notify partners that they may want to get themselves tested, though its not appropriate in all cases.

"For HIV and syphilis, we try to go out and tell each person more humanely than an anonymous e-mail," Longfellow said.