Chronic nonbacterial prostatitis or inflammatory chronic pelvic pain syndrome is the inflammation of the prostate not due to bacterial infection. It refers to a condition affecting patients who present symptoms of prostatitis without a positive result after urine culture or expressed prostate secretion (EPS) culture. Currently, the National Institute of Health refers to Chronic Non-Bacterial Prostatitis as Category IIIa Prostatitis or Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome (CP/CPPS).
Nonbacterial prostatitis is typically a chronic, painful disease. The symptoms characteristically go away and then come back without warning. The urine and fluid from the prostate show no evidence of a known infecting organism, but the semen and other fluids from the prostate contain cells that the body usually produces to fight infection.
Treatment with antibiotics and drugs that relax the muscles of the prostate gland is often tried and commonly fails. It is the least understood type of prostatitis and hardest to treat. This form of prostatitis is the most common. It is believed to occur eight times more often than bacterial prostatitis. It occurs in association with other diseases such as Reiter syndrome (arthritis, conjunctivitis [eye inflammation] and inflammation of the genital and urinary systems).