
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 1, 1990                   TAG: 9006010099
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

MONKEYS GIVEN AIDS CLONE FOR RESEARCH

Researchers have given monkeys an AIDS-like infection using a cloned virus for the first time, a development they say could help them better understand the disease in humans.

Teams at Harvard and the University of California at Davis used a cloned simian immunodeficiency virus, the closest known relative of the human AIDS virus, to infect monkeys, according to a report in today's issue of the journal Science.

In cloning a virus, scientists make an exact copy of it. That allows them to understand the exact characteristics of the virus they are working with and to make specific changes in the virus for experiments, Harry Kestler of Harvard University's New England Regional Primate Research Center said.

Because the form of the simian virus being used in the experiment is very similar to the HIV-2 virus that infects humans, Kestler said the researchers hoped to learn more about AIDS in people.

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome is a contagious disease that attacks the body's immune system, rendering it incapable of resisting other diseases and infections.

by CNB