in 1901, while examining pathologic specimens of a spleen from a patient who had died of kala azar (now called "visceral leishmaniasis"), he observed oval bodies and published his account of them in 1903. charles donovan of the indian medical service independently found such bodies in other kala azar patients, and they are now known as leishman–donovan bodies (not to be confused with donovan bodies, which are found in granuloma inguinale, which is caused by "klebsiella granulomatis") and recognized as the protozoan that causes kala azar, "leishmania donovani".