What Is It?

The prostate is a walnut-sized gland that sits below the bladder in men. This gland makes fluid that mixes with sperm to form semen. Since the prostate surrounds the urethra (the tube that carries urine out of the body from the bladder), conditions that cause the prostate to swell or enlarge may press on the urethra and cause pain or problems with urination.

Prostatitis is inflammation or swelling of the prostate gland. Acute prostatitis is a sudden infection of the prostate gland, usually by bacteria that get into the prostate by traveling up into the body through the urethra. Some of these bacteria are the normal germs that live on and inside your body, while other infections are transmitted through sexual contact.

Most men who develop prostatitis have a normal prostate gland, although the infection may be more common in older men as the gland gets larger with age. There is no known link between prostatitis and prostate cancer. Prostatitis is more common in men with AIDS, but many men who develop this infection have a normal immune system.

Symptoms

Typical symptoms of acute prostatitis include:

• Burning or dribbling with urination

• Difficulty starting the urine stream or total inability to pass urine at all

• Cloudiness or blood in the urine

• Pain above the penis, in or below the scrotum, in the back or in the rectum

• Fever and chills

• Nausea and vomiting

• Muscle aches, fatigue or flu-like symptoms

Delaying treatment can allow the infection to spread. In severe cases, a man may become extremely ill and need to seek emergency care.