June marks the beginning of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, and forecasters are warning of above-average activity.

More than half of U.S. coastal areas should plan to face a major hurricane of Category 3, 4, or 5. If our 2024 experience is a reliable predictor, we can anticipate more than $100 billion in damage, more than 100 fatalities and an increasingly problematic, if overlooked, element of these disasters: the threat to public health.

Hurricanes and other water-centric events, like flooding, are creating ideal environments for the transmission of infectious diseases, from mold exposure to flesh-eating diseases to mosquito-borne viruses.

Clusters of a potentially fatal infection caused by Vibrio bacteria, which can cause severe diarrhea and necrotizing skin lesions, hit Florida after Hurricane Ian in 2023. Cases in 2024 exceeded that total, with high burdens in Florida counties that experienced the worst flooding from Hurricane Helene.

In Texas last summer, health officials warned the public of the risk of contracting West Nile virus post-Hurricane Beryl.

Mosquito-borne illness is possible wherever there are mosquitoes. Florida, California and Texas all experienced locally acquired cases of dengue fever in 2024.

Chikungunya,........

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