"Hmmm... Not to argue, but my understanding is that Strep Suis is "quite common" in pigs"
I agree this is what I stated earlier it is endemic to most rural regions and most countries of the world. Be advised there are 36 serotypes and serotype 2 and 4 are the most virulent and dangerous for humans, these are not common. Further serotype 2 and 4 can and do produce less virulent and even non virulent strains. So you can see an anomalous statistic where proximity to porcine populations exists and 3rd hygiene protocols are in operation. (read China and parts of Asia in general)
The low human fatality statistic is not a safe one, detection is by PCR assay and in most cases we are able to diagnose this cause of death only recently. It is likely that a large proportion of bacterial meningeal fatalities in rural areas of developing countries can be attributed to S.suis infections, also TSS can claim many immune depressed. In short we do not have the resources to determine the causative agent for all bacterial meningeal and TSS fatalities the world over. In the main the likelihood of human infection from Strep suis is most likely to occur in countries where the resources and desire to discover these details is not present. In china's case the recent scrutiny over H5N1 is providing them a reason to draw attention away form H5N1 which is bad for trade to a slightly lesser problem of Strep suis.
Chinese officials fired for pig disease cover-up
CHINA - Four officials have been sacked for trying to cover up the trail of dead pigs early in an outbreak of a swine-borne disease that has killed 39 people in southwest China, Xinhua news agency said on Monday.
The officials, all from near Neijiang in Sichuan province, had fabricated reports and deceived inspectors and reporters tracing the spread of the Streptococcus suis bacteria, Xinhua said on its English Web site, www.chinaview.cn.
More than 200 people have contracted the disease in Sichuan from slaughtering, handling or eating infected swine.
After 78 pigs died in Zizhong county in mid-July, the head of the county animal husbandry and food bureau and three colleagues wrote a report falsely claiming all the dead swine had been safely buried or their whereabouts were unknown and they lied to investigators and state television reporters, Xinhua said...