COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The nation's largest supermarket chain has been accused of discrimination for refusing to let a boy with the AIDS virus use a supervised play area in an Ohio store.

Georgio Lee Chacon was not allowed into PePe's Playhouse at a Kroger Co. store while his guardian, Barb Cordle, shopped. Cordle objected, and has support from the Ohio Civil Rights Commission and a group of AIDS doctors.

''We fear that other corporations may look to this example and say, perhaps, that a child who is playing in our playground poses a direct threat, or a child who is enrolled in our day-care center presents a danger to other children,'' said Jose Zuniga, deputy director of the Chicago-based International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care. ''This could very well snowball.''

Georgio has been HIV-infected since birth and has cerebral palsy. His mother died of AIDS in 1995.

Cordle said she took Georgio, then 6, to the store in August 1997. While she shopped, the boy used the play area. Ten days later, she said, a store manager phoned her and told her the boy could no longer use the playhouse because he has the AIDS virus.

Cordle, a nurse who runs a group home for HIV patients.''On that form, I wrote something to the effect that if he bleeds, call me and put on gloves,'' she recalled. Ms. Cordle said a Kroger caregiver asked if Georgio was a hemophiliac. ''I said no, he has the AIDS virus. She told me that was not a problem, 'That's why we have gloves.'''

That day was the only time Georgio used the Kroger play area. His guardian said he was upset when she didn't allow him to play in the area.

She complained to the state commission, which on July 24 determined Kroger probably engaged in unlawful discrimination. The commission found that Kroger provided no evidence that Georgio's condition was a direct threat to others.

Last month, the commission put the case in the hands of the state attorney general. If the attorney general's office cannot resolve the dispute, it can take the case to a hearing examiner, who could order the company to comply and award damages.

Kroger denied any discrimination, saying it had no obligation to provide child care to the boy and listed reasons. Among them: ''He has a contagious or infectious disease,'' and ''He is a direct threat to the safety of himself, other children'' and playhouse attendants.

Kroger said it also had turned away children with colds, flu, pinkeye and chickenpox.

Kroger described playhouse users as ''small children who could unexpectedly bite, hit, scratch or cut another child or themselves'' or fall and knock out a tooth or get a bloody nose.

Kroger spokeswoman Lynn Marmer said the company does not consider PePe's Playhouse a day-care center or preschool. ''It's temporary, short-term baby-sitting while parents shop in the store,'' with different standards than a school setting, Ms. Marmer said.