Sexagenarian Pratibha Lal was admitted to the city's Ruban Memorial Hospital with symptoms of influenza accompanied with asthma problems over two weeks ago. But as Lal's treatment progressed, she was later diagnosed with swine flu.

Swine flu has made a comeback in the city after two years with the first 10 cases being reported. Apart from the 10 cases from Patna, one case each from Arwal and Gopalganj have also been reported.

Of the 10 cases reported from Patna, six alone were reported on August 27.

Swine flu cases were last reported in 2015 with as many as 346 cases being detected in the city and the disease had also claimed two lives the same year. Last year, however, not a single case was reported from Patna. Experts, however, cautioned that residents need not panic now that the disease has resurfaced in the city after two years.

"Majority of the patients, who have been detected from the state capital, didn't require hospitalisation. They were provided medicines and have been kept in isolation at home. Only one patient, Pratibha Lal, whose disease status was revealed only during her hospitalisation period, was serious as she happened to be an elderly and was also suffering from secondary problems. She was treated at the hospital and right now she is cured and has been released from hospital," said Ragini Mishra, state epidemiologist at the State Health Society.

She added: "The swine flu patients have been divided into three categories - A, B and C. Only C category patients are supposed to be hospitalised as per the Union health ministry's guidelines, who have serious acute respiratory infection problem in which patients have serious difficulty in breathing. Patients with mild symptoms like fever, sore throat, body ache, running nose among other problems can be treated at home by providing medicines and keeping them in isolation."

Health department sources said right now testing facilities for detecting H1N1 virus (which causes swine flu) is available at only one government set-up in Patna - Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences (RMRIMS) apart from the Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital (DMCH).

"The Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction test to detect H1N1 virus is only available at Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences in Patna and at the Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital among government set-ups. Both the institutions conduct the test free of cost while private facilities charge something around Rs 5,000 for the test. The nose and throat swab samples for the test can be collected at all government medical college hospitals in the state, including Patna Medical College and Hospital," said a source.

Sources said the guidelines for making isolation wards and stocking up Oseltamivir medicine at all the district hospitals and medical college hospitals have been issued by the state health department. The Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction test is also called RT-PCR test.

Not only swine flu, the vector-borne diseases are also rearing their head in the city with Patna reporting 12 confirmed cases of dengue and 5 cases of chikungunya, said a civil surgeon office source.