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 The Indian Medical Service (IMS) was a military medical service in British India, which also had some civilian functions. It served during the two World Wars, and remained in existence until the independence of India in 1947. Many of its officer ...

and was among the first experimenters to demonstrate that plague was transmitted by rat fleas and was involved in developing a plague vaccine. Liston was born in

Secunderabad Secunderabad, also spelled as Sikandarabad (, ), is a twin cities, twin city of Hyderabad and one of the six zones of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Telangana. It ...

where his father was an Army Chaplain. The surgeon

Robert Liston Robert Liston (28 October 1794 – 7 December 1847) was a British surgeon. Liston was noted for his speed and skill in an era prior to anaesthetics, when speed made a difference in terms of pain and survival. He was the first Professor of Cli ...

, known for Liston's Splint, was a cousin of his father. Liston was sent to be educated at George Watson's College, Edinburgh followed by studies at the Albany Academy, Glasgow before joining Glasgow University to study medicine. A year after graduating he joined the Indian Medical Service in 1898. He was trained at the Army Medical School at

Netley Netley, officially referred to as Netley Abbey, is a village on the south coast of Hampshire, England. It is situated to the south-east of the city of Southampton, and flanked on one side by the ruins of Netley Abbey and on the other by the Ro ...

. 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 Sir Almroth Edward Wright (10 August 1861 – 30 April 1947) was a British bacteriologist and immunologist. He is notable for developing a system of anti-typhoid fever inoculation, recognizing early on that antibiotics would create resistant ...

from Netley and M. A. Ruffer from Egypt. Liston was chosen to assist Wright and they established a laboratory in Bombay and began work. In 1901 the commission produced a report in five volumes. He also worked simultaneously on malaria and produced a monograph of the Indian ''

Anopheles ''Anopheles'' () is a genus of mosquito first described and named by J. W. Meigen in 1818. About 460 species are recognised; while over 100 can transmit human malaria, only 30–40 commonly transmit parasites of the genus ''Plasmodium'', which c ...

'' species along with S.P. James with illustrations by D.A. Turkhud. Liston was then recalled to England to work at Netley under Wright. He began to examine the suggestions that fleas were key in the spread of plague. In 1902 Liston received his MD and a Bellahouston gold medal from Glasgow for his studies on malaria. He returned to India in 1903 and was posted in Bombay to work under W.B. Bannerman and

Waldemar Haffkine Waldemar Mordechai Wolff Haffkine ( uk, Володимир Мордехай-Вольф Хавкін; russian: Мордехай-Вольф Хавкин; 15 March 1860 Odessa – 26 October 1930 Lausanne) was a Ukrainian-French bacteriologist kno ...

. The main investigations were on rat fleas but they were unable to demonstrate transmission of the plague through their bites. After examining

guinea pig The guinea pig or domestic guinea pig (''Cavia porcellus''), also known as the cavy or domestic cavy (), is a species of rodent belonging to the genus ''Cavia'' in the family Caviidae. Breeders tend to use the word ''cavy'' to describe the ani ...

s 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 The Oriental rat flea (''Xenopsylla cheopis''), also known as the tropical rat flea or the rat flea, is a parasite of rodents, primarily of the genus ''Rattus'', and is a primary vector for bubonic plague and murine typhus. This occurs when a flea ...

''). He was then involved in development of a plague vaccine. He retired and settled in Edinburgh and continued to work as a bacteriologist at the Royal College of Physicians’ Laboratory.

References

External links

A monograph of the Anopheles mosquitoes of India
by S.P. James and W. Glen Liston (2nd Edition, 1911) {{DEFAULTSORT:Liston, W.G. Indian Medical Service officers 1872 births 1950 deaths Alumni of the University of Glasgow People from Secunderabad 20th-century British medical doctors British bacteriologists 19th-century British medical doctors British people in colonial India Medical doctors from British India