State health officials say residents in the Northport-East Northport School District should not be alarmed by what many people call a high rate of cancer among students in the middle and high school.

The state Health Department held a virtual public meeting Thursday discussing the results of a study it conducted involving what residents called the unusually high number of Northport High School 2016 graduates who had leukemia. 

The department says while it did find a higher than expected number of certain cancers in the area, it also found fewer than expected cases of other types of cancer.

Aside from the 2016 graduates, diagnoses of leukemia were not significantly elevated among young adults in the Northport-East Northport School District, or among children.

An investigation two years ago found benzene in soil samples outside a middle school. Residents were concerned that may have been causing cancers.