Prostatitis, an inflamed and painful prostate gland, is a common condition. Learn some of the causes, symptoms and treatment of this condition. Prostatitis is a group of conditions that includes acute and chronic bacterial prostatitis and chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS). It can cause infection, inflammation and pain in the prostate gland. Prostatitis is inflammation of the prostate gland and sometimes the area around it. It is not cancer. Learn more about this condition, including what it is, what causes it, what the symptoms are, and how it's diagnosed and treated. The term prostatitis refers to inflammation of the tissue of the prostate gland. It may occur as an appropriate physiological response to an infection, or it may occur in the absence of infection, or there may be no inflammation of the prostate at all. Prostatitis is most often caused by bacteria. They spread from the rectum or from infected urine. You can't get prostatitis from another person. It is not a sexually transmitted infection (STI). But it can result from several STIs. Who is at risk for prostatitis? You can get prostatitis at any age. But some things raise your risk: Find out about prostatitis, including what the symptoms are, where to get medical help, what you can do to ease the symptoms, how it's treated and causes. Prostatitis is a condition of the prostate gland most often linked with swelling and irritation, called inflammation. Prostatitis can make it painful or hard to urinate. It also may cause pain in the groin, pelvic area or genitals. Bacterial infections cause some but not all prostatitis. Acute prostatitis is a serious bacterial infection of the prostate gland. This infection is a medical emergency. It should be distinguished from other forms of prostatitis such as chronic bacterial prostatitis and chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS). The causes, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatments for chronic prostatitis/pelvic pain syndrome and acute and chronic bacterial prostatitis. Chronic bacterial prostatitis is defined as a persistent bacterial infection of the prostate, typically presenting as recurrent UTIs from the same strain. Up to 74% of chronic bacterial prostatitis diagnoses are due to gram-negative organisms, such as E coli.