[The effect of 3'-azido-2',3'-dideoxythymidine on experimental viral infections].

3'-Azido-2',3'-dideoxythymidine (az-T) inhibited effectively the reproduction of some retroviruses; among these viruses were the four serological subgroups of sarcoma Raus virus in chicken embryo, avian myeloblastosis virus and erythroblastosis virus in chicken. This inhibition was specific towards retroviruses and practically was not observed in the case of infections DNA- and RNA-genome model viruses of vaccinia and influenza, at whose reproduction reverse transcriptase is not involved. Three other 3'-modified nucleosides did not block the above-listed retroviruses. For chickens, az-T showed low toxicity. The molecular mechanisms of the action of az-T are discussed.