W.G. Liston

Lieutenant Colonel William Glen Liston (30 July 1872 – 18 October 1950; sometimes published as W. Glen Liston) was a British Army doctor and medical entomologist who worked in the Indian Medical Service and was among the first experimenters to demonstrate that plague was transmitted by rat fleas and was involved in developing a plague vaccine.

His was posted to Secunderabad and shortly on arrival he was involved in research surrounding a plague outbreak at Bombay.

A commission was sent from England that included T. R. Fraser from Edinburgh, Almroth Wright from Netley and M. A. Ruffer from Egypt.

After examining guinea pigs that died from plague at the Bombay zoo, he decided that they could be used to trap fleas in homes.

This experiment proved valuable and they were able to confirm transmission by the Oriental rat flea (Xenopsylla cheopis).