Daptomycin-Induced Eosinophilic Pneumonia: Can an Antibiotic Cause Pneumonia?

We present an interesting case of a patient who was discharged from the hospital on daptomycin and ertapenem in the setting of osteomyelitis. The patient did not have any respiratory symptoms during that hospital stay. A few weeks after discharge, the patient came back to the hospital with complaints of fever and shortness of breath. Chest X-ray showed pulmonary infiltrates. Initially, the patient was treated for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) vs pneumonia, but she did not improve. When labs showed significant eosinophilia, daptomycin-induced eosinophilic pneumonia became the working diagnosis, and the patient improved significantly when daptomycin was discontinued and steroids were started.