Swallowing air and belching are natural occurrences that result from eating or drinking too quickly. Chewing gum or drinking carbonated beverages can also introduce air into the stomach and cause belching. Because infants frequently swallow air when feeding, burping or belching is normal after they have been fed. The act of burping an infant helps relieve the discomfort caused by swallowed air.
Sleeping sickness, also known as Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT), is caused by Trypanosoma brucei rhodensiense in Eastern Africa and Trypanosoma brucei gambiense in Western Africa . Both protozoan species are morphologically indistinguishable, but have drastically different epidemiological features.
For the human-specific pathogens, see Trypanosoma brucei and Trypanosoma cruzi. Trypanosoma is a genus of kinetoplastids (class Kinetoplastida), a monophyletic group of unicellular parasitic flagellate protozoa. The name is derived from the Greek trypano- (borer) and soma (body) because of their corkscrew-like motion. Most trypanosomes are heteroxenous (requiring more than one obligatory host to complete life cycle) and most are transmitted via a vector. Some, such as Trypanosoma equiperdum, are spread by direct contact.