A new study by Canadian and Chinese researchers has once again shown the resilience of HIV, which survives and thrives through mutation.

Released on Thursday, the study shows the virus can quickly develop resistance to the promising CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technique - better known as the molecular Swiss army knife.

The findings, published in the US journal Cell Reports, call for additional tweaking of the gene editing technique before it can be used as an effective antiviral tool.