According to a new study, last year the world has come to know of the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa much before the official announcement, and all credit goes to Twitter.

The study reported that tweets regarding the Ebola outbreak had reached more than 60 million people in three days prior to official announcements of the outbreak.

Researchers from the Columbia University in New York said, “It’s clear that Twitter is a useful resource for spreading breaking health news in these West African countries.”

For the study, researchers have analyzed over 42,000 Ebola related tweets posted in social networking site between July 24 and August 1, 2014.

This was the week when Nigeria reported the first case of Ebola, Sierra Leona declared a national state of emergency and the first American was diagnosed with Ebola.

Twitter was a resource for those to share news of Ebola cases prior to the official announcements from the Nigerian ministry of health, Centre for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC and World Health Organization.

Three days prior to the official announcement from the Nigerian Ministry of Health, nearly 1,500 tweets were disseminated regarding Ebola during the period.

Researchers said, “The results of this analysis indicate how Twitter can be used to support early warning systems in outbreak surveillance efforts in settings where surveillance systems are not optimal.”

Researchers have analyzed the content of the tweets, and they found that the main topics of concern in the tweets were regarding prevention education, Ebola risk factors, spread and location of Ebola and compassion for countries in Africa.

Researchers said, “The results of this analysis indicate how Twitter can be used to support early warning systems in outbreak surveillance efforts in settings where surveillance systems are not optimal.”

The findings of the study are published in the American Journal of Infection Control.