Chronic bacterial prostatitis is the second type of prostatitis caused by a bacterial infection, but what makes it different from acute bacterial prostatitis is that the chronic form develops slowly and lasts for three months or longer. Doctors do not see a lot of cases of chronic bacterial prostatitis because it affects less than 5% of men who get prostatitis. However, it is also a difficult condition to diagnose because symptoms can come and go over a period of weeks and months, and so it is not always easy to detect the bacteria that are causing the inflammation. You may think you have gotten better only for the symptoms to come back after a few weeks. Some bacteria do not grow well when cultured, making them even harder to identify.

The main bacterium is Escherichia coli (E. coli) although there are others that can directly or indirectly trigger the disease. They include:

Enterobacter cloacae
Chlamydia trachomatis (they also cause Chlamydia)
Enterococci sp.
Klebsiella pneumonia
Neisseria gonorrhea (which causes gonorrhea)
Proteus mirabilis
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Staphylococcus aureus
Trichomonas vaginalis (which causes trichomoniasis)
Ureaplasma urealyticum
Mycoplasma hominis
Serratia marcescens