Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) -- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $255 million to fight polio, the potential killer that still cripples children in parts of Africa and Asia.

The pledge was part of a $630 million package, including funds from the British and German governments, according to a statement released today by the Seattle-based Gates Foundation. The money will go to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, whose partners include Rotary International, a service organization based in Evanston, Illinois.

Polio struck millions of people globally in the 20th century, before being eliminated in most of the world, including the Americas and Europe. Wild polio virus persists in Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan, and cases imported from those countries may threaten other nations, the foundation said in its statement.

“Complete elimination of the polio virus is difficult and will continue to be difficult for a number of years,” said Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft Corp., in the statement.

Polio mainly strikes children younger than five years old, and one in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis, according to the Web site of the World Health Organization, an arm of the United Nations. There were 1,618 polio cases in 2008, Bill Gates said in speech for delivery today. Polio’s past victims in the U.S. included an aunt of Melinda Gates, his wife, he said.

The foundation earlier said it aims to prevent the onset of new polio cases globally by 2010 and to ensure the eradication of the virus three years later. The foundation no longer is holding to that timetable, Jennifer Nadeau, an outside spokeswoman, said today in a telephone interview.

In November 2007, Rotary International agreed to match a $100 million Gates Foundation grant to fight polio. Rotary clubs have since raised $60 million toward that challenge, the Gates Foundation said today. The earlier commitment is separate from the package announced today.

Editors: Jeffrey Tannenbaum, Robert Greene

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Swann in Washington at cswann1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 21, 2009 12:00 EST