Health : Test Mice Infected With AIDS Virus

WASHINGTON — California scientists said today that they have overcome a major hurdle in AIDS research, successfully infecting mice with the AIDS virus after their immune systems were altered to make them similar to that of humans.

In September, the scientists reported transplanting characteristics of the human immune system into mice, a breakthrough that offers new opportunities for understanding AIDS. Following up on that, researchers from Stanford University reported in the current issue of Science magazine that, as expected, they subsequently were able to infect those mice with the AIDS virus.