Acute prostatitis

For a lay person:

Acute prostatitis is a sudden bacterial infection of the prostate gland, which sits below the bladder in men. It usually comes on quickly with fever, pain and urinary symptoms, and can make passing urine difficult.

For a trained medical person:

Usually caused by ascending Gram-negative uropathogens, most often Escherichia coli, and occasionally by sexually transmitted organisms or after urological instrumentation. Diagnosis is clinical with a tender, boggy prostate on gentle examination, supported by urinalysis, urine culture and blood tests; prostatic massage is avoided. Management is prompt antibiotics with good prostatic penetration, analgesia, and catheterisation or drainage for retention or abscess.

In Chinese medicine:

Liu and Tseng's textbook differentiates this condition into these patterns: Lower Jiao Damp-Heat; Yin Deficiency and Damp-Heat. Treatment follows the pattern a patient presents with, not the Western diagnosis alone.

When to get help: Get urgent medical care for fever with urinary symptoms, being unable to pass urine, or feeling very unwell, as this can lead to sepsis; it needs antibiotic treatment and Chinese medicine is adjunctive at most.