An elderly man has become the third heart surgery patient to contract a rare infection after being exposed to contaminated equipment at a major Sydney hospital.
The man - aged in his 80s - has been confirmed with Mycobacterium chimaera infection from a surgical heater-cooler unit at Prince of Wales Hospital in 2015, NSW Health revealed on Tuesday.
All three reported NSW cases were from patients who underwent open heart surgery at the same hospital.
A man in his 40s and a woman in her 80s are now believed to be recovering.
Warnings were issued in August and December last year about the potential contamination of the devices which have since been replaced or removed from service.
Prince of Wales was one of four public hospitals that used the heater-cooler units, along with St George, The Children's Hospital at Westmead and Sydney Children's Hospital Randwick.
The risk to patients from the infection was now considered very low, NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said on Tuesday.
"Patients have been asked to watch for M chimaera symptoms - persistent fevers, increasing or unusual shortness of breath, and unexplained weight loss," she said in a statement.
The contaminated machines have also been used in several private NSW hospitals and hospitals in other states and territories.
More than 70 patients have been infected worldwide and it has caused the deaths of several patients overseas.
Australia's first case was recorded in Queensland last year.
The slow-developing infection can take several years to be diagnosed.
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