Walther Kruse (September 8, 1864 - 1943) was a German bacteriologist who was a native of Berlin. In 1888 he received his doctorate from Berlin, where he was a student of Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902). From 1889 until 1892 he worked as a bacteriologist in Naples, and in 1892 travelled to Egypt to perform research on dysentery. In 1893 he became an assistant to hygienist Carl Flügge (1847-1923) in Breslau, and in 1898 became an associate professor at the University of Bonn. Later he served as a full professor in Königsberg (1900), Bonn (1911) and Leipzig (1913).