If you suffer from chronic bacterial prostatitis, epididymitis, or possible infection of the prostate or male reproductive tract you need answers about what is causing your infection. Traditional laboratory cultures, which attempt grow the microbes from your urine sample in a lab, often fail to identify the bacteria or fungi that make up your infection. MicroGenDX combines two advanced technologies to test your urine sample instead. One is called “next-generation sequencing” (NGS), which uses a database of over 50,000 bacteria and fungi to identify all of the microbes in your urine sample with 99% accuracy over 3-5 days. The other is called qualitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), which can more quickly identify common microbes causing prostatitis or epididymitis in just 24-48 hours. If you are suffering from pain while urinating, bladder pain, a persistent need to urinate, prostate pain, pain when ejaculating, or other prostatitis symptoms, then now may be the time to get a prostate test/semen test that uses qPCR and NGS.

For an additional charge, you can add a test for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) – also called sexually transmitted Infections (STIs) – to detect Gonorrhea, T. vaginalis (“trich”), Chlamydia, and Mycoplasma genitalium.

Prostatitis is an inflammation of the prostate gland. It is often painful and can cause frequent urination, difficulty urinating, or a burning feeling while urinating. You may feel pain in the genital area, groin, lower abdomen or lower back. Prostatitis is sometimes, but not always, caused by bacteria. It is one of the most common diseases seen in urology practices in the United States, accounting for close to two million visits every year.

There are two types of bacterial prostatitis – acute and chronic. The acute type happens suddenly and lasts a short time. Chronic prostatitis develops slowly and can last a long time, even years. The symptoms are similar for both.

There is also a nonbacterial form of prostatitis that is often called chronic pelvic pain syndrome. The cause for this is unknown, although some research suggests that a bug of some sort (not bacteria) may be responsible. Read More

Epididymitis is an inflammation of the epididymis. The epididymis is a tube at the back of the testicles that stores and carries sperm. When this tube becomes swollen, it can cause pain and further swelling in the testicles.

Epididymitis is most common in young men ages 20 to 39. It is estimated that every year one in 1,000 men develop epididymitis. Read More