Chronic prostatitis is common and affects adult men of all ages and from all backgrounds. About five percent of men experience symptoms of chronic prostatitis at some point in their lives. Chronic prostatitis is the reason for up to 25% of office visits to urologists, doctors who specialize in diseases of the urinary tract.

Some men develop a chronic infection in the prostate that does not cause any symptoms. This condition, known as asymptomatic inflammatory prostatitis, may be diagnosed when men are evaluated for other urological conditions such as prostate cancer or infertility. Doctors often treat the infection with the same antibiotics used for chronic bacterial prostatitis.

Bacterial infection of the prostate gland also can cause acute prostatitis, which starts suddenly and usually causes fever and more serious symptoms. Acute prostatitis is less common than chronic prostatitis.

Symptoms

Because the prostate surrounds the urethra (the tube that carries urine out of the body from the bladder), conditions that cause the prostate to swell can press on the urethra and cause pain or problems with urination. Typical symptoms of chronic prostatitis include:

• Burning during or after urination

• Difficulty starting the urine stream

• Dribbling after urination has been completed

• A need to urinate frequently or urgently

• A sensation that the bladder cannot be emptied completely

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

• Pain experienced during or after orgasm

In some men, symptoms may be hardly noticed or only slightly annoying. Other men are quite bothered by chronic prostatitis and find that the symptoms interfere with work, leisure activities and sexual enjoyment.