Lynn Silveira’s story is becoming alarmingly common.

The 67-year-old Oxnard area woman thought she had the flu and was then diagnosed with pneumonia. After landing in the hospital, she finally learned a week ago that the source of the fever and fatigue that have turned her life into an elevator ride is valley fever.

“Yesterday, I felt pretty good,” she said on an August Wednesday, the day test results confirmed her illness. “Today, I feel like I could hardly walk around the living room. It’s kind of like the ups and downs.”

New data released by the California Department of Public Health shows a surge of valley fever continues across California and Ventura County after being first reported a year ago. The potentially fatal but treatable disease occurs when spores from the coccidioides fungus are carried from the soil into the air and then inhaled.

MORE:Doctors link valley fever wave to Thomas Fire

A state public health official placed part of the blame for the disease’s rise on the weather — on drought followed by rainstorms in the winter and spring of 2016 and 2017. Local doctors contend it’s obvious that Ventura County’s rise is partly driven by land burned in the massive Thomas Fire.

“Soil is being kicked up in the air and these spores are just thrown in the air,” said Dr. Glen Abergel, an Oxnard lung and infectious disease physician. “It’s just a matter of someone being in the wrong place at the wrong time and taking a breath in.”

In 2017, 240 cases of the disease were confirmed in Ventura County, according to a state report. A year earlier, only 64 cases were reported in the county. Over four years ending in 2016, only 193 cases of the disease were confirmed.

Last year’s surge spilled into 2018. A separate report from the California Department of Public Health showed 139 suspected, probable or confirmed cases from January to the end of July in Ventura County, although the frequency of cases has diminished as the year progresses.

MORE:Ventura County sees 1st human case of West Nile virus for 2018

Across the state, the confirmed cases grew from a then-record 5,509 cases in 2016 to 7,466 in 2017, the highest number of cases since tracking began in 1995.

“I think we’re in the middle of another epidemic here,” said Dr. Duc Vugia, chief of the infectious diseases branch for the California Department of Public Health. “We’re hoping the number will go down this year but it’s too early to say.”

Most people exposed to the fungus never show any sign of illness. Others develop fever, cough and other symptoms that are often misdiagnosed as flu or other illnesses.

“They told me I have cancer,” said April Lipsky, a San Diego area patients’ advocate who lived in Simi Valley when she contracted the disease, possibly from spores at a hillside construction site.

As many as 60 percent of the people who contract the disease never know it because they show no symptoms and never become ill. Many others develop lung issues including pneumonia.

In rare cases, the infection can pass from the lungs to the brain and spinal cord, becoming potentially fatal.

In Ventura County, five people died of valley fever in 2017 and four more died of the disease in the first several months of 2018, according to public health officials.

The risks trigger fears, but doctors say the disease can be treated with antifungal medications with a good chance of full recovery. Treatment can last a lifetime and the chance of recovery lessens when infections spread to the brain.

Nicole Sadowsky, a Camarillo teacher, was diagnosed in January after doctors originally considered the possibility of pneumonia, asthma and a blood clot. After six months of medication, her doctor told her the infection in her lungs had cleared.

“There’s still a little discomfort but not pain anymore,” she said.

Sadowsky was told her illness was likely caused by the Thomas Fire. Local doctors say the nearly 282,000-acre fire that began Dec. 4 and the winds that followed it opened the floodgates for valley fever.

MORE:State levies fines against St. John’s Regional, VCMC for alleged violations

Dr. Raj Bhatia, a lung specialist in Oxnard, went from seeing a handful of cases every year to seeing as many as a half-dozen a month. Now, that count is tapering off. State data for Ventura County showed 32 possible cases of the disease in January, falling to 19 in June and 13 in July.

It’s not just Ventura County that has been battered by fire. This month, California firefighters were facing 17 wildfires across the state, including the Mendocino Complex Fire in Mendocino, Lake and Colusa counties that has burned more than 400,000 acres, replacing the Thomas Fire as the biggest in state history.

But the rise in valley fever statewide is too big to blame primarily on fire, said Vugia of the state Public Health Department. Fire plays a role when followed by strong winds that rake dust into the air. Smoke without the wind likely doesn’t increase valley fever risks dramatically.

Vugia pointed blame for the rise in valley fever numbers on drought followed by a surge of rain late in 2016 and continuing into 2017. The rain disturbs the soil and sends the spores airward.

“That’s when we see cases,” he said.

Like others diagnosed with the disease, Silveira plays the whodunnit game. She thinks the Thomas Fire was likely to blame for her illness but wonders, too, about a July trip to Kern County and a separate visit to Mexico.

“I’m one of those fix-it-yourself types,” Silveira said, noting that she turned to over-the-counter flu medication when flu-like symptoms emerged more than a month ago. They didn’t help. She ended up in St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo, where a lung specialist tested for valley fever.

Silveira was placed on antifungal medication and worried initially how long the illness would last. But just a week after tests confirmed she had the disease, she was feeling better. Her ups and down weren’t as dramatic, although her energy still waned quickly.

“At least I’m not in pain,” she said. “I can see an end to it. I’m not afraid anymore.”

Preventing valley fever

Avoid going outdoors during windy conditions.

Avoid activities in which large amounts of dust are generated.

Minimize exposed soil by using hard ground cover or planting ground cover vegetation.

Keep disturbed soil wet when working directly with the soil.

Whenever possible, use filtered and conditioned air in living and work spaces .

Source: Kern County Public Health Services

Elevated risks

Valley fever is most common in people 60 and older. Others at higher risks of valley fever include people who:

Have HIV or AIDS

Have had an organ transplant

Are pregnant

Are diabetic

Are African-American or Filipino

Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention