There are no reliable statistics about how many men are diagnosed each year with epididymitis and prostatitis, but we do know that these are common infections.
Epididymitis
When epididymitis occurs in younger men, it is usually caused by sexually transmitted bacteria, such as those that cause chlamydia, gonorrhea, and nongonococcal urethritis, often acquired through unprotected sex. Epididymitis can occur as a complication of urethritis (between 1 and 2 percent of men with chlamydia urethritis develop epididymitis) or without an underlying urethral infection.
In older men without a new sexual partner, epididymitis usually occurs along with a urinary tract infection (UTI), although UTIs are uncommon among men. UTIs may occur in older men because of the benign enlargement of the prostate that many older men experience; this enlargement can lead to incomplete emptying of the bladder and thus predispose them to UTIs. In these cases it is not clear which comes first, the bladder infection or the epididymal infection.
Men who have recently had a catheter inserted into the urethra or bladder or been subject to any other invasive procedure in that area may also develop a UTI, epididymitis, or both. In all of these cases, the most common bacterium is Escherichia coh, not the sexually transmitted bacteria. Any structural abnormality of the urinary tract system, such as stones or scars (strictures) of the urethra, or any abnormality that causes the bladder to empty incompletely can also lead to UTIs and subsequent infection.
Occasionally tuberculosis, fungus, and the bacterium that causes syphilis can also cause epididymitis.
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