The potential for a sudden power loss due to recirculation is present with any jet engine although only those used for jet VSTOL applications are seriously at risk. Thus for any powered lift design to be successful it must - by design – arrange some way of keeping the hot exhaust gases out of the intakes. Both the Harrier and the F-35 designs achieve this by having more thrust come out of the front relatively cold nozzle(s) than out of the rear hot ones. Then when the front exhaust hits the ground and spreads radially in all directions the part that goes rearwards stops the hot component coming forward dead in its tracks as shown in this infra red pic where hot is white. (I have added an arrow to show where the cool front fan exhaust is coming down)
Dealing with so called "far field" recirculation from the "walls" of any restricted site is another matter and not so much an aircraft design issue as an operational one that is dealt with through appropriate site selection and flying techniques. This can affect choppers as well as fixed wing.