1.   Hundreds have been arrested in last year and scores have died in what local sheriffs call a spreading epidemic.

2.   Of all the conflicts and problems he has to address, none is more threatening than the spreading AIDS epidemic.

3.   The decision was expected to embolden other developing countries that have also been calling for cheaper drugs to deal with the spreading AIDS epidemic.

4.   The grim statistic underscored the contrast that became clear this week between the rapidly spreading epidemic and the slow pace at which efforts to fight the disease are progressing.

5.   The grim statistic underscored the contrast between the rapidly spreading epidemic and the slow pace at which efforts to fight the disease are progressing.

6.   Lien ordered soldiers to help residents clean up and rebuild their homes, and asked health authorities to prevent flood waters from spreading epidemics.

7.   Premier Lien Chan ordered soldiers to help residents clean up and rebuild their homes, and asked health authorities to prevent flood waters from spreading epidemics.

8.   With war-traumatised refugees dying by the minute, overwhelmed medics fought to contain the spreading epidemic as soldiers from the French intervention force in Rwanda turned gravediggers.