Prostatitis is an inflammation of the prostate gland. The prostate gland forms a ring around the urethra, the tube that carries urine from the bladder to the end of the penis.
It may be caused by a bacterial infection. Acute prostatitis develops suddenly, and chronic lasts longer than 3 months and symptoms come and go. Symptoms of acute illness are fever, pain with urination, cloudy urine, fatigue, pain near groin, genitals or rectum. During chronic condition patients may have minimal symptoms or experience pain with voiding, sudden need to urinate, fever or chills, pain in groin, genitals or near rectum, problems urinating and more.
Prostatitis is diagnosed by obtaining medical history, doing physical exam including palpation of a prostate on digital rectal exam, checking urine for bacteria. Antibiotics for several weeks are indicated. For problems with urination, medications relaxing muscles in the region are prescribed.
