World’s oldest celebrates 115 years

The world’s oldest known living person celebrated her 115th birthday Monday.

Gertrude Baines was honored at Western Convalescent Hospital with music, a letter from the president, and two cakes.

Baines said little during the celebration as friends sang to her and she received a proclamation from Guinness World Records acknowledging her as the world’s oldest person.

Baines’ physician said she only has two complaints.

“Number one, she doesn’t like the bacon. It’s not crisp enough,” the doctor, Charles Witt Jr., told KCAL-TV. “And the other thing is she fusses about her … arthritis of her knees. She told me that she owes her longevity to the Lord, that she never did drink, she never did smoke and she never did fool around.”

Chattanooga, Tenn.

VA patient tests positive for HIV

A Veterans Affairs patient who was among thousands treated with unsterilized equipment has tested positive for HIV, the first such case reported since the department warned veterans they could have been exposed to infectious diseases.

The VA previously reported that hepatitis had been found in 16 patients, but the agency cautioned there was no way to prove that the patients contracted the illnesses because of treatment at their facilities.

In an e-mail late Friday, the agency said it was investigating “the possibility of such a relationship.”

The VA earlier this year warned more than 10,000 veterans to get blood tests because they could have been exposed to contamination while getting colonoscopies in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Miami.

From wire reports