By Aftab Borka

ISLAMABAD, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Fighting between the Pakistani army and Islamist militants as well as hostility towards vaccinating teams has led to a sharp increase in polio cases in Pakistan this year, health workers said on Friday.

Pakistan is one of the few countries where the deadly, crippling disease still exists. Polio, spreads through poor hygiene, and is also endemic in Nigeria, India and Afghanistan.

Pakistan has had 55 polio cases this year compared with 32 last year and 39 in 2006.

Pakistani forces have been battling militants in the northwest of the country, in areas on the Afghan border, disrupting efforts to make sure every child gets vaccination drops.

"Parts of Swat and parts of FATA, we haven't been able to go and immunise children for quite some time. So that means we have a build-up of susceptible children that haven't been immunised." said Melisa Corkum, a UNICEF communications officer.

FATA is the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, seven semi-autonomous ethnic Pashtun dominated regions in the northwest, where militants fighting the Pakistani government and foreign forces in Afghanistan have sanctuaries.

Swat is a valley in North West Frontier Province where fighting has also been intense.

"Vaccinators are really putting themselves at risk in these areas," Corkum said.

Polio can be prevented with the use of vaccines that have eliminated the virus as a public health threat in most of the world.

But as well as fighting between the army and militants, vaccinating teams also have to contend with suspicion and even hostility from people who believe the vaccination campaign against the highly infectious disease is a plot.

Some Muslim clerics in the conservative tribal belt along the Afghan border have opposed anti-polio campaigns, saying it is a foreign-funded ploy to sterilise people.

Last year, a doctor and a health worker were killed in a roadside blast in the Bajaur region on the Afghan border, leading to the suspension of a vaccinating campaign.

A Health Ministry official said vaccinators had even been attacked during brief peace pacts between militants and government forces.

"During recent peace deals with the militants, the government had tried to stop them from attacking our vaccinators. But still they attacked," said the official, who declined to be identified.

"During the last campaign one of our doctors was kidnapped," he said.

Health authorities have run information campaigns with the help of Muslim clerics in favour of vaccination to try persuaded parents of the benefits of immunisation. (Editing by Robert Birsel)

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