41.   Early Sunday morning, word spread like fresh air that rescue workers could hear tapping from that hell below.

42.   Ebola is contained for now, but what might happen if the virus mutates and spreads like the flu?

43.   E-mail viruses are spreading like wildfire.

44.   Enough vegetation had been lost from the Sahara, enough bare ground exposed, that precipitation declined sharply and barrenness began to spread like wildfire.

45.   For centuries, the Eternal City had spread like moss over and around the ruins of the imperial capital.

46.   Foothills spread like inviting arms, an alluring welcome to the mysterious heights beyond.

47.   From time to time, there comes a plant whose popularity spreads like, well, bamboo.

48.   Hatred can spread like a fire out of control, and it seems that when that hatred is rooted in religious bigotry, it is acted out more savagely.

49.   He wants to ban video poker, the electronic game of chance that has recently spread like a fever in South Carolina and many other states.

50.   Her girlfriends followed suit, and the news of his presence spread like a wildfire.