Castro dancer in German ICU after tick bite
- Spanish outlets reported that Cristina Romaña, a 25-year-old professional dancer from Castro Urdiales, is in intensive care in Germany after a tick bite. - Romaña says symptoms began after visiting Nara Park in Japan in late 2024, then escalated to fever, vomiting, fainting and facial paralysis. - Her family says Germany is her last treatment option after delayed diagnosis in Spain. (cantabriapress.com)
Cristina Romaña, a 25-year-old professional dancer from Castro Urdiales, is in an intensive care unit in Germany after a tick bite that she says led to severe Lyme disease. (cantabriapress.com) Spanish regional outlets identified Romaña on April 28, 2026, and said she became ill after visiting Nara Park in Japan and coming into contact with deer there in late 2024. (cantabriapress.com) (eldiariomontanes.es) She told donors in a GoFundMe appeal that she has had Lyme disease for a year and a half and that her condition became chronic and severe after it was not recognized in time. (gofundme.com) Cantabria Press reported that her symptoms after returning to Spain included fever, vomiting, loss of consciousness and facial paralysis. The same report said doctors gave conflicting explanations for months before a private test and a Madrid specialist confirmed Lyme disease. (cantabriapress.com) The German hospital named in local coverage is Klinik St. Georg in Bad Aibling, near Munich. Cantabria Press said Romaña traveled there because she saw no effective curative option in Spain. (cantabriapress.com) The treatment described in the reports is extreme hyperthermia, which raises body temperature to 42 degrees Celsius, alongside intravenous antibiotics and apheresis, a blood-filtering technique. Cantabria Press said the full course is expected to last about two months. (cantabriapress.com) Her family is trying to raise 50,000 euros for the German treatment after already spending 35,000 euros on earlier tests and therapies, according to Cantabria Press. The GoFundMe page was created within the past day and says the German intensive care treatment is her last alternative. (cantabriapress.com) (gofundme.com) European health authorities list Lyme borreliosis among the main tick-borne diseases clinicians should consider, alongside tick-borne encephalitis and several others. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control says tick-borne illnesses have diverse presentations and are becoming more important for health workers to recognize. (ecdc.europa.eu) For now, the public facts are narrow: a named patient, a German intensive care admission, and a family fundraiser tied to a late Lyme diagnosis. Her case is now being followed through local Spanish reporting and her crowdfunding appeal. (cantabriapress.com) (gofundme.com)
