During the period 1974-1987, the frequency of infections in alcoholics discharged from hospitals in Funen showed an increase of 5.53 +/- 3.38 (p = 0.0039) per 10,000 alcoholics discharged per year. The frequency of discharged alcoholics increased by 3.72 +/- 0.60 per 10,000 discharged patients per year. Infections were diagnosed in 0.48 per cent of the discharged alcoholics and in 0.18 per cent of the discharged non-alcoholics (p less than 0.00001). Pneumococcal infections were relatively more frequent in alcoholics (p less than 0.05).