<div><p>When you pack your bags for paradise, you aren't expecting to bring back more than some beautiful photos and a few souvenirs from the trip. </p><p>For one California couple, this trip got their new marriage off to a rough start.</p><p>Ben Manilla and his wife Eliz Lape believe they contracted the rat lungworm disease while on their 2-week honeymoon in the Hana area of Maui earlier this year. </p><p>"It was a perfect two weeks,"<a href="http://www.mauinews.com/news/local-news/2017/04/calif-couple-suffering-from-rat-lungworm/"> Lape said</a>. "What we came home with wasn't perfect."</p><div><figure><amp-img src="https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/13589558_G.png" srcset="https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/13589558_G_GH_content_550px.png 550w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/13589558_G_GH_content_650px.png 650w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/13589558_G_GH_content_750px.png 750w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/13589558_G_GH_content_850px.png 850w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/13589558_G_GH_content_950px.png 950w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/13589558_G_GH_content_1050px.png 1050w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/13589558_G_GH_content_1150px.png 1150w" sizes="89vw" title="" alt="" height="9" width="16" layout="responsive"></amp-img><figcaption class="op-vertical-center"><cite>Ben Manilla</cite></figcaption></figure></div><p>The disease is a condition where the parasitic worm larvae infects people's brains. The disease is passed on to humans through unwashed produce or contaminated animals such as freshwater shrimp and land crab. </p><p><!-- [invalid-shortcode] --></p><p>"My symptoms started growing to feeling like somebody was taking a hot knife and just stabbing me in different parts of my body," <a href="http://www.kcra.com/article/bay-area-newlyweds-contract-brain-invading-parasite-in-maui/9266098">Lape said</a>. When the couple returned home to San Franscico they were both diagnosed with rat lungworm disease. </p><p>Manilla's symptoms appeared soon after and he was forced to spend a month in the ICU. Even after that, he is still undergoing intensive rehabilitation. He has already experienced several operations, 2 bouts pneumonia, a blood clot and kidney complications. </p><div><figure><amp-img src="https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/Manilla-Lape-3-1100x825.jpg" srcset="https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/Manilla-Lape-3-1100x825_GH_content_550px.jpg 550w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/Manilla-Lape-3-1100x825_GH_content_650px.jpg 650w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/Manilla-Lape-3-1100x825_GH_content_750px.jpg 750w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/Manilla-Lape-3-1100x825_GH_content_850px.jpg 850w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/Manilla-Lape-3-1100x825_GH_content_950px.jpg 950w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/Manilla-Lape-3-1100x825_GH_content_1050px.jpg 1050w" sizes="89vw" title="" alt="" height="9" width="16" layout="responsive"></amp-img><figcaption class="op-vertical-center"><cite>Maui News</cite></figcaption></figure></div><p><!-- [invalid-shortcode] --></p><p>The Hawaii Department of Health has confirmed 6 cases of this potentially life-threatening disease tied to Maui this year. There is a fear that this number may be under reported because of the large amount of tourists that visit the area.</p><p>"Had we known we were walking into this kind of environment, we would have had a completely different attitude," Lape said. "It really does disrupt and destroy people's lives."</p><p></p><p></p><p></p></div>