Additional experiments are necessary to determine whether the size and high mortality of the recent outbreak is because the Chinese "S. suis" version is more virulent than other strains or due to the circumstances under which the Chinese patients got infected and treated. Studies are under way to characterize the bacterial isolates from the outbreak in detail. Physicians around the world should be aware of the possibility of "S. suis"-associated STSS when they see patients with unexplained sepsis who had been in contact with pigs.