Ebola is a level-4 biohazard virus. It spreads so easily and quickly that even well-trained doctors wearing protecting masks and gloves keep getting infected from nearby patients.
An Ebola infection only requires a single viral organism to enter your body, usually through your mouth or eyes. A person who rubs their eyes with their finger can instantly cause an Ebola infection of a single virus was resting on their finger.
Ebola can spread through "aerosols," meaning liquid particles suspended in the air. When a person infected with Ebola sneezes, vomits or coughs, they can create Ebola aerosols. "1 - 10 aerosolized organisms are sufficient to cause infection in humans," explains the Public Health Agency of Canada. (2) This is how Ebola becomes "airborne" even when it is not traditionally categorized as an airborne disease.
Sanitizing surfaces is a significant part of any defense against Ebola infections. It is well established that Ebola can be killed with sodium hypochlorite, also known as bleach. It's also killed with methyl alcohol, Triton X-100 (a cleaning agent I use in the lab), and UV radiation.
This means sunlight kills Ebola, which is probably why you don't find much Ebola in the deserts of the world. The pathogen tends to come out of humid jungle areas that are dark and damp. If it were to invade the USA, it would be far more "successful" in places like Florida and Louisiana where heat and humidity are commonplace.
