Corey Schubert describes himself as a healthy guy, but one night last October he had such a severe pain on the left side of his chest he could barely move.

“I couldn’t even grab the remote control,” the 35-year-old said.

When the pain was worse the next morning, Schubert drove himself to the emergency room and discovered he had what doctors call a “white out.”

“My left lung on the X-ray was completely white from pneumonia, which is a typical symptom of valley fever,” he said. “It was truly awful — and what I found most eye-opening was how easy it would be to think it could be a heart attack or pneumonia.”

Since a gigantic haboob in July 2011, Banner Health, where Schubert is a public relations specialist, has seen an epidemic of valley fever, which can be deadly in patients who have compromised immune systems.

Dr. Craig Rundbaken, who practices pulmonology and internal medicine at Banner Del E. Webb Medical Center in Sun City West, predicted after that first major haboob last year, cases of valley fever would climb.

“It’s definitely come true,” Rundbaken said. “I would still project that we’re going to see more cases.”

Doctors are now seeing the highest number of valley fever cases ever reported, Rundbaken said.

“It’s just now slowing down,” said Dr. Larry Spratling, a pulmonary disease expert and chief medical officer in the East Valley at Banner Baywood Medical Center.

A fungus that grows in dry soil causes valley fever, which primarily attacks the lungs and leads after a few weeks to symptoms similar to the flu.

Rundbaken suggests that people, especially seniors in the Sun City and Sun City West communities whom he treats, use common sense and avoid going outside in dust storms to limit exposure, even if it is interesting to watch the clouds rolling in.

“There’s really no way to not come in contact with the dust out here, no matter what you do,” Rundbaken said.

Patients who also suffer from other diseases, such as cancer or diabetes, should be extra careful and wear a mask to cover their mouth and nose when doing activities like working in the garden, Rundbaken said.

Misdiagnosis of valley fever can be a problem because sufferers can wind up being treated for the wrong illness, delaying recovery, said Shoana Anderson, chief of the Arizona Department of Health Services’ Office of Infectious Disease Services.

“It’s why we encourage people who are coughing, exhausted and running a fever to ask to be tested for valley fever,” Anderson said.

Seventy percent of the people living in Arizona will get valley fever but never get sick enough to get it officially diagnosed, Spratling said.

“I don’t want to drive people away. I like it here,” Spratling said. “But if you live here long enough, you are likely to get it.”

Dogs commonly get valley fever, too.

“I even treated a gorilla at the zoo years ago,” Spratling said.

It’s pets that are helping public health professionals pinpoint where valley fever originates.

“People go hiking, they go to work, they’re at home, so they may not be sure where they got infected,” Anderson said, “but if their dogs are sick, it helps us understand where to look.”

While valley fever is on the rise, Anderson and Spratling both said that higher awareness and more testing may mean cases are recognized now that might not have been several years ago.

Schubert thinks his case of valley fever can be traced to one of the smaller haboobs that blew through his Gilbert neighborhood last summer.

“I got caught out in the dust storm for about five minutes,” he said. “I remember thinking I breathed enough dust that it couldn’t be good.”