A new kind of laboratory mouse can be used to test the efficacy of much-needed methods to prevent transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, according to research by J. Victor Garcia and colleagues at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. The findings demonstrate the utility of such mice for animal testing of pre-exposure antiviral drugs to protect against HIV infection. Such mice also provide a new way of evaluating microbicides and other prevention approaches that have generally required testing in macaques, using viruses that are related, but not identical, to HIV.
