Prostatitis

Prostatitis is an acute or chronic inflammatory disease of the prostate.

While acute is always the result of an infection, in most chronic prostatitis, the bacteria are not found in the urine, semen or prostatic excretion culture. The symptoms of acute prostatitis are mostly related to bladder irritation (frequent and urgent urination) or bladder obstruction (painful urination and weak urine flow), as well as general symptoms like malaise and fever.

Differently, the prevalent symptom of chronic prostatitis is a pain in the genital area.

The antibiotic treatment of acute prostatitis must be immediate and aggressive to cure and eradicate the infection because of the risk of severe generalized infection.

Inadequate or delayed treatment can lead to chronic disease. Then, the treatment will be more complicated and often partially effective.

What are the causes and symptoms of prostatitis? What about the possible complications, and when is it mandatory to see a doctor? What is the likely treatment?

Let’s go into more detail.

Symptoms

The symptoms onset can be gradual and progressive (in days) or sudden (in hours):

• Painful urination (dysuria);
• Frequent urination (frequency);
• Weak urine flow;
• A poorly localized pain in the genital area (lower abdomen, groin, testicles);
• General discomfort, malaise and fever.

In chronic prostatitis, the symptoms are less heavy than in acute. However, the predominant discomfort is pain at various locations. These include the perineum, scrotum, penis and inner part of the leg other than lower urinary tract symptoms like painful and frequent urination.

Causes

Prostatitis is always a complication of infection of the near parts of the lower urinary tract (urethra or bladder). The condition occurs when bacteria infect the urine and leak into the prostate. Prostatitis is more likely to happen in the following situations:

• Previous prostatitis;
• pelvic trauma, such as an injury from bicycling or horseback riding;
• urinary catheter;
• after prostate biopsy
• immune system down (HIV/AIDS).

Complications