Dr Makoto Saito
Research groups
Makoto Saito
Senior Medical Epidemiologist
- Head of AMR disease theme, Infectious Diseases Data Observatory (IDDO)
I am an infectious disease physician by training and a clinical epidemiologist based at the Infectious Diseases Data Observatory (IDDO).
Over the past few years, I have dedicated my work to studying the epidemiology of malaria in pregnancy, focusing particularly on the use of antimalarials during pregnancy. My doctoral project (2015-2019, St Edmund Hall, Clarendon scholar) aimed to summarize the available evidence to optimize the clinical care of pregnant women with malaria and improve the quality of research methodology for the future. Since then, I have closely collaborated with researchers at the Shoklo Malaria Research Unit (SMRU, Mae Sot, Thailand) and the WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN, Oxford).
My research interests extend broadly to the epidemiology of clinical infectious diseases, with a particular focus on malaria and other tropical infectious diseases, as well as nosocomial bacterial infections and antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Key publications
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Pregnancy outcomes after first-trimester treatment with artemisinin derivatives versus non-artemisinin antimalarials: a systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis.
Saito M. et al, (2023), Lancet (London, England), 401, 118 - 130
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Efficacy and tolerability of artemisinin-based and quinine-based treatments for uncomplicated falciparum malaria in pregnancy: a systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis
Saito M. et al, (2020), The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 20, 943 - 952
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Pregnancy outcomes and risk of placental malaria after artemisinin-based and quinine-based treatment for uncomplicated falciparum malaria in pregnancy: a WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis
Saito M. et al, (2020), BMC Medicine, 18
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A randomized controlled trial of dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine, artesunate-mefloquine and extended artemether-lumefantrine treatments for malaria in pregnancy on the Thailand-Myanmar border
Saito M. et al, (2021), BMC Medicine, 19
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Severe falciparum malaria in pregnancy in Southeast Asia: a multi-centre retrospective cohort study
Saito M. et al, (2023), BMC Medicine, 21
Recent publications
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Colonoscopy-Based Diagnosis of Dibothriocephalus nihonkaiensis Infection Protruding into the Ascending Colon
Adachi E. et al, (2025), The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
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Submicroscopic malaria in pregnancy and associated adverse pregnancy events: A case-cohort study of 4,352 women on the Thailand–Myanmar border
Gilder ME. et al, (2025), PLOS Medicine, 22, e1004529 - e1004529
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Enhancer of zeste homolog 1/2 dual inhibitor valemetostat outperforms enhancer of zeste homolog 2-selective inhibitors in reactivating latent HIV-1 reservoirs ex vivo
Sedohara A. et al, (2025), Frontiers in Microbiology, 16
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MicroRNA in neuroexosome as a potential biomarker for HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders.
Arizono K. et al, (2025), Journal of neurovirology
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Use of Ursodeoxycholic Acid and the Risk of Severe Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Elderly Patients with Viral Hepatitis
Okushin K. et al, (2025), Internal Medicine, 64, 2301 - 2306