Video:What is Orchitis?

Transcript:What is Orchitis?

I'm Dr. Bob Lahita, Chairman of Medicine at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center and Professor of Medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

What is Orchitis?

Orchitis is inflammation of the scrotum, of the testicles. There are many causes of orchitis, the most serious ones are infectious. The most common infectious causes are bacterial and viral. Urinary tract bacterial infections and sexually transmitted bacterial infections are common causes of orchitis in adults.

Causes of Orchitis

Of the viral infections, mumps is the most well described cause. The mumps virus causes an infection of the scrotum, which causes severe testicular pain and is often a cause of infertility if the orchitis is severe. Mumps related orchitis is now quite rare in the United States due to effective mumps vaccination campaigns. There are other less common conditions such as cancer of the testicle which is usually painless but can involve orchitis and something called tortion of the scrotum, which is twisting of the vessels in the epididimus within the scrotum- and that can cause severe inflammation and severe pain.

For more information about orchitis, go to About.com.