Acute prostatitis may also develop as a result of procedures involving the urethra, such as:

• trauma
• catheterization or cystoscope
• bladder outlet obstruction (def: a blockage at the base of the bladder that reduces or prevents the flow of urine into the urethra, the tube that carries urine out of the body)

Before the appearance of chemotherapy and antibiotics the acute prostate inflammation was a common disease in the urological practice. Nowadays however, it has become more rare, just like Gonococcal urethritis.

The main cause for the prostate infection are different microbes, especially the Staphylococcus, isolated or associated with Streptococcus, Genococcus or Escherichia coli. Also Some sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) can cause acute prostatitis, typically seen in men younger than 35. These include gonorrhea, chlamydia, urealyticum, and trichomonas. Prostatitis from an STD typically follows closely the sexual contact with an infected partner. Very rarely, anaerobe microbes can be found in the acute prostatitis pus. The microbes reach the prostate gland in one of three ways:

1. Via the urethra- this path is more direct and the most usual. The microbes reach the prostate gland from the posterior urethra. The prostate is wrapping the urethra in this area, and the microbes can reach it through these pinholes.
2. Hematogenous infection is produced mostly by the Staphylococcus or the Streptococcus. It originates in skin infections (abcesses, pimples) or dental, tonsil, lung, gastro-intestinal infections. These microbes settle in the prostate when it offers favorable conditions for microb development, like when it is congested.
3. The Lymphatic path brings the microbes to the prostate from the nearby regions (intestin, rectum) as in the case of rectal abscesses, anal fistulas, hemorrhoids etc.

Some 80% of acute bacterial prostatitis cases also invade the seminal vesicles, which are located above the prostate gland and behind the bladder. Some 40% of posterior urethritis have some degree of prostatitis.

Having stopped in the prostate, usually in one of the lobes, the microbe starts to develop and invades the epithelium of the glandular duct within the prostate (follicular prostatitis), provoking a purulent secretion, then goes through the wall of these ducts right into the prostatic tissue, provoking the formation of an abscess and can even move beyond the prostate, provoking the periprostatitis.

Let's now go through all these stages, one by one.