CAIRO — At a news conference late last week, an Egyptian Army doctor confidently announced that the country’s military had developed a cure for the virus that causes AIDS, as well as hepatitis C, one of Egypt’s gravest public health threats.

The doctor, Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Abdul Atti, said the cures were the result of 22 years of his own study. At some point, he added, military intelligence had taken on his research as a secret project.

Now it was being revealed to the world.

“Defeating the virus is a very easy process, but God grants wisdom to whoever he wants,” said the general, who boasted that the treatments had cured 100 percent of AIDS patients and more than 95 percent of hepatitis C cases.

An Army video played at the news conference showed the devices used in the treatments at work. Some patients were hooked up to boxlike machines. Others were monitored by doctors holding what looked like a hand exerciser attached to an antenna that swiveled, following the patients as they walked.