He died at the age of 73 on Saturday long-time Czech presenter Zbyněk Merunka. The last time photographers captured him was on February 4 at the celebrations of TV Nova’s anniversary. states . The party was held exactly three decades after Merunka together with Stanislava Wanatowiczová were first presented by Televízne noviny. After this action, he almost completely withdrew. PHOTO can be found in the gallery!
According to he suffered from Creutzfeldt-Jakob diseasea neurodegenerative brain disease with a strong development of dementia, which is always fatal. The disease killed him within half a year. His condition deteriorated rapidly over the summer, when he still managed to go to the Amfora match on the field in Doubravčice. But there he didn’t look well at all, and then he ended up completely in the hands of the doctors.
He hosted the first ever live broadcast of TV Nova
Merunka was born on December 19, 1950 in Prague. He started his journalistic career after graduation at Czechoslovak Radio, where he worked for more than 20 years, mainly in the foreign newsroom. After 1989, he joined the emerging private radio Alfa.
In 1993, he participated in the selection process for the position of editor of the upcoming private television Nova, where he was offered the position of moderator of the main news program Televízne noviny. Together with Stanislava Wanatowiczová, on February 4, 1994, he hosted the first ever live broadcast of TV Nova. Subsequently, he formed a popular presenter duo with Eva Jurinová, with whom the TV newspaper presented for five years. Jurinová died at the age of 67 in January 2021.
After leaving TV Nova at the end of the 90s, Merunka joined Prima TV, where he moderated several popular shows including Mňam or Prima vareška or Autosalon. In recent years, he has worked on Czech Television, where he presented shows such as What Our Grandmothers Knew and What We Forgot and Traveling for Wine.
WHAT IS CREUTZFELDT-JACOB DISEASE?
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), the so-called spongiform encephalopathy, is a human disease caused by virus-like protein particles – prions. It occurs in an incidence of approximately 0.5 – 1 per million inhabitants. The incubation period lasts several years. It is manifested by dementia and other neurological symptoms, the disease is fatal. She is often referred to as Fr the human form of mad cow disease.
Symptoms include rapidly worsening dementia, disorders of coordination, gait and balance (ataxia), myoclonus (sudden muscle twitches), visual disturbances, hallucinations and finally a complete loss of the ability to speak and move.
