Native and white families in whom a diagnosis of tonsillopharyngitis had been documented during 1975 or 1976 were surveyed during 1978 whenever a family member presented to the Southwest Middlesex Health Centre. The relationship between smoking and allergic disorders within the family and the diagnosis of tonsillopharyngitis was determined. The presence of smoking family members and family members with allergic disorders was noted significantly more often in study than in control families. Similarly, families which had an average of two or more persons per bedroom were found significantly more frequently in study families with tonsillopharyngitis.Native patients were diagnosed as having tonsillopharyngitis significantly more frequently than white patients. In addition, native patients had a significantly greater number of positive bacterial throat cultures than did white patients.