First generation, 4th generation, makes no important difference; just a few days shift in when tests turn positive. But I would be surprised if it is true that Home Access isn't using up to date technology.
HHH, MD
I know this may sound like an oxymoron, but I read somewhere (sorry for not remembering the place) that although Home Access do use 1st generation test, they use the latest testing technologies. They claim (now this they told me personally over the phone) that after 6 weeks all generations results are the same. Complex as it may seem, the only conclusion that can be drawn here is that all testing labs know that whoever (almost 99%) is gonna turn positive is going to do it within 6 weeks.
HomeAccess still uses first generation ELISA technology. For information on HomeAccess, go to thebody.com under Understanding Your Labs. There is a posting entitled Home Access Test dated July 11, 2001, with information provided by the makers of this test.
You can search the web to find out the time for various generation tests to detect HIV. In general, a fourth generation test will detect HIV about a week earlier than a third generation test (by detecting the P24 antigen) and a third generation test will detect HIV antibodies about a week earlier than a first generation test. A second generation test (such as used by LabCorp) will detect HIV antobodies somewhere between the first the third generation tests.
I sent an email to Home Access asking how they would classify their test. I will post if/when they reply.
I remember somebody previous posting previously about Home Access using first generation method. You may try Oraquick if you have a clinic nearby, it may pick it up sooner if you are really anxious.
1) Symptoms never are a particularly useful indicator of early HIV infection, especially when the risk of infection is low to start with. Although some of your symptoms are consistent with HIV, the identical symptoms are hundreds of times more likely due to other things that are much more common than HIV, such as a garden variety respiratory virus. Also, in people with symptomatic primary HIV infection, high fever is almost always present; its absence is strong evidence your other symptoms are not due to HIV. Self-assessment of posssible lymph node enlargement is totally unreliable. Thus, my assessment of your HIV risk is completely unrelated to the symptoms you describe, and comes down to the level of risk from the exposure you describe. Even if your Indonesia partner had HIV, the likelihood you caught it was less than 1 chance in 1000. If you turn out to have HIV, I would suspect you caught it some other time.
2) Home Access uses standard HIV antibody testing. False positive results are not an issue. About 80-90% of infected people develop positive tests within 4 weeks. If you remain anxious despite my reassurance, you might want to get tested again 6-12 weeks after exposure. (Search the STD Forum threads for "time to positive HIV test" for extended discussions of when to be tested, how the odds work out in low-risk situations like yours, and so on.)
Best wishes-- HHH, MD