FIRST OFF . . .

“Tom Cruise is alive and well and in Los Angeles--and doing his regular stuff, now that he’s over the flu,” declared his personal publicist on Friday. Spokeswoman Andrea Jaffe went on to decry recent London newspaper reports that said the actor had checked into a Paris hospital to undergo tests for AIDS and other illnesses. “Those London papers started out by claiming Tom had a ‘deadly tropical disease’--they put it in big headlines. Now it’s come to this,” said Jaffe, adding that “Tom is really (angry) about all this and has been talking with his lawyers.” According to Jaffe, Cruise was in London to attend the British premiere of “Rain Man” and to promote the film when he came down with the flu. After six days in London, Cruise headed to Paris. When his temperature reached “around 103 or 104,” he decided to check into the American Hospital in Paris. Said Jaffe: “He was there for several days and they ran a series of tests--which were all negative. They told him he just had a bad flu, they got his temperature down and he came home.” Cruise is currently in post-production on the Oliver Stone-directed “Born on the Fourth of July” and is due to begin his next film in May.